Reasons to block must be recorded, communicated to users: Twitter to HC

Microblogging platform Twitter on Thursday told the Karnataka High Court that although the IT Act permits the Indian government to ask for the blocking of accounts, it also asks for recording the “reasons” for the same, as reported by Economic Times (ET). It added that the reasons must be communicated to users.

The high court was hearing the plea challenging the blocking of 39 URLs by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in 2021.

According to Section 69A of the IT Act, the central government or any of its authorised officers can order the blocking of access by the public to any computer resource “in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence with reasons to be recorded in writing.”

The reasons for blocking, however, need not be mentioned to the party under the current rules.

The case has been adjourned to November 16. The centre will have to reply to the plea.

In early October, Twitter said that there cannot be a general blocking order unless the nature of the content is in violation of grounds under Section 69A, the ET report added.

It also said that such blocking orders not only affect the rights of the primary user, but also the intermediary, as a result intermediaries were entitled to challenge the authority’s blocking orders.