Farmers protest | Govt issues notice to Twitter, warns of penal action
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Centre asks microblogging web site to adjust to its order associated to elimination of contents in addition to accounts associated to ‘farmer genocide’
The Union authorities has issued a notice to Twitter to adjust to its order associated to elimination of contents in addition to accounts associated to ‘farmer genocide’, whereas warning that refusal to accomplish that could invite penal action, The Puucho has learnt.
“The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology [MeitY] had passed an interim order dated 31.01.2021 as a matter of emergency blocking 257 URLs and 1 Hashtag under section 69 A of the Information Technology Act, 2000… on the ground that the said URLs and hashtag are spreading misinformation about protests and has the potential to lead to imminent violence affecting public order situation in the country,” a supply within the MeitY stated.
Twitter unilaterally unblocked accounts/tweets regardless of the federal government order for blocking. It was an middleman and was obliged to obey the federal government course, the supply acknowledged.
“Refusal to do so may invite penal action. The government notice quotes more than half a dozen Supreme Court judgments, including of constitutional benches, as to what is public order and what are the rights of authorities. Twitter being an intermediary is obliged to obey the directions as per the satisfaction of the authorities as to which inflammatory content will arouse passion and impact public order,” the supply added.
Contests order
The microblogging web site on Tuesday night restored all accounts, hours after blocking them citing “legal demand”. A supply informed The Puucho that the platform, in a gathering with authorities officers, contested the order, arguing that these accounts had been “not in violation of Twitter policy”.
In the notice, the MeitY identified the “prevailing situation”, which resulted in a significant public order challenge on January 26, 2020. “The statutory authorities are doing everything possible to ensure that no adverse public order situation takes place and no cognizable offences are committed. In light of these developments and as a part of due process, and as per the settled practice, an order was passed…” the supply stated.
