Twitter: Govt cannot order blocking of accounts without notice to users

The Union government cannot block Twitter accounts without first issuing notices to the users and Twitter itself, the social media platform told the Karnataka High Court Monday, citing norms laid down by the Supreme Court and Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The court was hearing a petition moved by Twitter against orders issued by the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology to block 39 accounts in 2021.

Senior counsel Arvind Datar, appearing for Twitter, said that the government had issued blocking orders for innocuous messages too, an example being ‘Hindu youth donates blood to save mom of Muslim jawan posted in Jammu and Kashmir’.