Centre’s Powers under “Section 69A of IT Act”
Twitter has been asked to follow the Indian laws. The government of India has expressed disappointment over partial compliance with its orders by Twitter.
Issues with Twitter
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered Twitter to block several Twitter accounts for posing a threat to law and order. The order was issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
- The said amendment made it illegal to share or publish anything on social media with intention to cause, or which is purported to be with the effect of causing, fear or alarm among citizens and disrupting peace and public order.
- On this, Twitter blocked several accounts. But very soon it reactivated several of them citing free speech and because it found the content newsworthy.
- On free speech, the government has said that freedom of speech and expression is provided under Article 19 (1) of the Constitution of India.
- However, freedom of expression is not absolute, and it is subject to reasonable restrictions as mentioned in Article 19 (2) of the Constitution of India.
Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act
Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, allows the Centre to block public access to an intermediary “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 cognisable offence relating to above”.
It allows the government to block public access to any intermediary in the interest of
- Sovereignty and integrity of India
- Defence of India
- Security of the state
- Friendly relations with the foreign States or
- Public order or
- Preventing incitement of any cognisable offence relative to the above.
The intermediaries under the Act include; telecommunication companies, internet service providers, network operators, web-hosting services, search engines, payment gateways and other relevant portals and services.
Section 69A provides the government with the power to block public access. But the procedure to do that is listed in the IT (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.
The Act says prescribes punishment for any intermediary (internet platform) for failure to comply with the government direction. Punishment can be imprisonment for up to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.
