Twitter files petition against govt’s blocking orders

Twitter has moved to the Karnataka high court against the legality of the government’s content takedown orders, after the Union electronics and information technology ministry warned it of penal action in case if the tweets asked to be taken down last year were not blocked.

In its writ petition, Twitter has alleged that multiple accounts and content included in the blocking orders are overbroad and arbitrary, fail to provide notice to the originators of the content, and are disproportionate in several cases.

The company has argued that the orders are procedurally and substantially deficient of the Section 69A requirements and that they demonstrate excessive use of powers and are disproportionate. It argued that in several cases, there are demands for entire accounts to be blocked.

The order to block a post/account is passed by a designated officer appointed by the Centre, who chairs an inter-ministerial committee comprising officials from the ministries of law and justice, home, information and broadcasting and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.

Twitter said, “Similarly, several could pertain to political content that is posted by official handles of political parties. Blocking of such information is a violation of the freedom of speech guaranteed to citizen users of the platform. Further, the content at issue does not have any apparent proximate relationship to the grounds under Section 69A.”