Why Twitter sought legal action and moved HC against Indian govt

Twitter in its petition said that content does not meet the threshold for blocking under section 69A

Twitter has sought legal action against the government of India’s order to take down certain content posted on the platform. According to the petition filed in the Karnataka High Court, on July 5, the platform has argued that the take down orders are procedurally and substantially non-compliant with section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

Twitter in its petition, which Business Standard has seen, said that content does not meet the threshold for blocking under section 69A. It said that blocking rules also provide for a review mechanism whereby blocking orders are to be reviewed and the review committee under Rule 14 must record its findings on whether the directions issued under these rules are in accordance with the sub section (1) of section 69A of the Act.

Twitter said that the government’s actions are disproportionate, adding that section 69A does not extend to block entire accounts. “Section 69A provides power to block ‘information’ and ‘information’ is defined in section 2(1)(v) of the IT Act. The remit of Section 69A extends to blocking information that is already available and does not extend to preventing information from being generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted. Twitter also mentioned that the government of India does not provide proper reasons for blocking orders. “The content in respect of which the present challenge in filed, falls squarely with the freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, 1950. Several of the URLs contain political and journalistic content…,” it said in the petition