Govt not empowered to issue orders to block accounts: Twitter to HC

Council for microblogging site emphasises that Section 69A (power to intercept electronic communication) of IT Act does not spell out mass blocking of accounts

Twitter on Monday told the Karnataka High Court that the Central Government was not empowered to issue general orders to block social media accounts unless the nature of the contents satisfied the grounds of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The section talks about the power of the Central government to issue directions for blocking public access to any information through any computer resource if the government believes it goes against the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India or other reasons mentioned in this section. However, the reasons for blocking such information must be recorded in writing by the government.

“There can’t be general blocking orders unless the content violates the grounds under 69A,” Advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for Twitter, told Justice Krishna S Dixit.

In the previous hearing, Datar told the court that 10 blocking orders were issued by the central government between February 2021 and the same month this year, to block accounts during the farmers’ stir in and around Delhi. He emphasised that Section 69A (power to intercept electronic communication) of the Information Technology Act does not spell out the mass blocking of accounts.

Twitter further said while Indian laws allow the blocking of tweets but to block entire accounts simply based on political criticism may go against the heart of the freedom of speech and expression and the right to criticise the government.

The court had also asked Datar to compile data about how other countries around the world may have dealt with a similar issue.

Giving an example of Australia, he said the time limit for blocking orders in the country was three months but there was no such limit in India.

“All jurisdictions recognise that intermediaries were also aggrieved persons when blocking orders were passed by the government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Ashok Haranahalli, also appearing for Twitter, said that not disclosing reasons to users for blocking their content or accounts goes against the right to freedom of expression.

Twitter has challenged the blocking of only 39 URLs out of 1,474 accounts and 175 tweets.