Microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday claimed that the Indian government ordered the blocking of more than 2,300 accounts on July 3. This order also included the official handle of global news agency Reuters. X’s Global Government Affairs Team said in a post that the Indian government ordered the blocking of all these accounts under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked to comply with the order within an hour and keep the accounts blocked indefinitely, without giving any reason. Order withdrawn after public protest According to X, after public protest, the government requested to unblock the accounts of Reuters (@Reuters and @ReutersWorld) on Sunday. These accounts were blocked for users in India on Sunday, but were restored later the same day. Expressing concern over press censorship in India, X said that it is considering all legal options. However, under Indian law, X has obstacles in making a legal challenge against these government orders. The company has appealed to the affected users to seek legal remedies through the courts. Ministry’s response: No new order given On the other hand, MeitY rejected X’s claims and said that no new blocking order was issued on July 3. The ministry claimed that as soon as it came to know about the blocking of Reuters accounts, it kept in constant touch with X from July 5 and demanded to restore the accounts. The ministry says that X delayed citing technical reasons and unblocked Reuters and other URLs only after 9 pm on July 6, which took more than 21 hours. X filed a case against the government X has filed a case against the Government of India in the Karnataka High Court, challenging the blocking orders issued under the Information Technology Act 2000. The company says that these orders lack adequate security measures. The matter was heard on Tuesday. X has sought amendments to its petition filed in March, including seeking the repeal of Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology Regulations. This rule gives government agencies the power to order intermediaries (like X) to take down content. There has been a dispute between X and the government before This is not the first time that X and the Indian government have clashed. In May this year, the handle of X’s Global Government Affairs Team was blocked in India, which was unblocked a day later. At that time, the government had issued an order to block 8,000 accounts. Basis of legal dispute X’s petition states that Section 79(3)(b) does not give the government the right to issue blocking orders to intermediaries. This section talks about removing the legal immunity given to intermediaries. If they do not comply with the government’s takedown orders. This, coupled with Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Arbitrator Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Act, 2021, allows the government to order removal of content.
