SC issues notice to Twitter for mechanism to check anti-India content

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A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde issued a notice to Twitter on a Public Interest Litigation filed by BJP leader Vinit Goenka seeking directions to the Union Government to introduce a mechanism to check anti-India tweets and advertisements on social media, reported LiveLaw.

The Bench also directed that the matter be tagged with similar pending petitions seeking social media regulation. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Dubey (appearing for the petitioner), submitted that the petition seeks a mechanism to “screen hateful advertisements and anti-India content on Twitter”.

According to LiveLaw, the petition reads: “Twitter and social media companies are profit making companies and expecting them to have safeguards for making social media safe and secure is important. The logic and algorithms that twitter usage should be shared and vetted by Indian government authorities or competent authority for screening anti-India tweets”.

The plea that sought directions to the Union of India, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Twitter, said that in the absence of any mechanism, Twitter and other similar social media platforms are spreading separatist agenda, seditious material, hatred amongst communities, instigative, divisive against the society at large, which is a threat to national security and against the spirit of the Union of India.

This order comes at a crucial time as there has been increased tensions between the Central Government and the social media giant that enjoys over 17 million Indian users. In the first week of February, the central government had issued a notice to Twitter to comply with its order to remove content and accounts spreading “fake news” on farmers’ protests in India. This was in response to Twitter’s decision to “unilaterally” unblock over 250 such accounts despite being given specific orders by the Government to block them.

In a blogpost on February 10, Twitter said that while it had taken some action on blocking orders issued by India’s Electronic and Information Technology Ministry (MeitY), it had not blocked accounts that consist of “news media entities, journalists, activists and politicians” as that would violate free speech.

The blogpost further read, “we do not believe that the actions we have been directed to take are consistent with Indian law, and, in keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians. To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law. We informed MeitY of our enforcement actions today, February 10, 2021. We will continue to maintain dialogue with the Indian government and respectfully engage with them”.

After the entire fiasco of withholding and reinstating around 250 accounts on Twitter, the Indian government is now promoting an Indian micro-blogging site called “Koo”.