Twitter refuses to comply with Centre's order

Twitter has been warned of penal action under Section 69A [3] of Information Technology Act, 2000, which prescribes imprisonment of up to seven years and fine.

Central government have asked Twitter INC earlier and this is the second time in three days to block tweets with the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide and also to block 257 URLs relating to the ongoing farmers protests.

Center has claimed that this Hashtag (#) and multiple URLs have been spreading misinformation and could lead to violence.

"The hashtag has been found to be instigating people to commit cognizable offences in relation to public order and security of the State. Freedom of press cannot be taken as a pretense to disseminate information which may incite violence or affect public order," the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has told Twitter in a communication dated February 2, 2021.

Twitter has already been warned of penal consequences under section 69A [3] of the Information Technology Act 2000, According to the Act, an intermediary (Twitter) who fails to comply with a direction issued under 69(1) shall be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years and fine.

An interim order was also issue on January 31 to take down the URLs, but it was not done until the meeting of the Committee.

Whereas on February 1 Twitter replied to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) declining to obey the order issued by the government and expressed such views at the Committee meeting as well.

The Centre has also taken objection to Twitter commenting upon issues related to freedom of speech.

"It is astonishing that Twitter despite being bound by statutory provisions validly enacted by the competent Legislature is commenting upon "significant issues relating to freedom of speech", relating to power of Central government under Section 69A and the Constitutional desirability of interim order dated January 31," the notice states.

The notice goes on to cite at least ten Supreme Court judgments on the scope of "public order", press freedom and doctrine of proportionality before ordering Twitter to take down the relevant hashtag and URLs.

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