Twitter faced threats, says ex-CEO; Centre calls it a lie

Twitter faced threats, says ex-CEO; Centre calls it a lie

Subject : Polity

Section :Constitution

Concept :

• Twitter’s former chief executive officer Jack Dorsey has accused the Indian government of threatening to shut down the social media platform in India unless it complied with its orders during the farmers’ protest in 2020-21.
• He further said the government demanded “contact information” of certain accounts in addition to shutting them down.
• The government refuted the claims and has called it an “outright lie”.
• The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology highlighted that Twitter had continuously resisted Indian laws. He further said that “India as a sovereign nation has the right to ensure that its laws are followed by all companies operating in India”.
• Notably, Mr. Dorsey quit as Twitter CEO in 2021 and Elon Musk purchased the platform in 2022.
• During the protests, some accounts were taken down. However, they were restored by Twitter following free speech concerns.

Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000

• It empowers the central government to block the online content and arrest the culprit. This is the primary law that deals with cyber-crime and electronic commerce in India.
• Section 69A of the Information Technology Act has given many power to the central government.
• Issue direction to remove objectionable content on social media and any other website.
• To block the online content in the wake of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, defence of India, friendly relations with foreign States.
• The procedure and safeguards subject to which such blocking for access by the public may be carried out shall be such as may be prescribed.
• The concerned authorities failing to comply with the direction (sub-section 1) issued might be punished with imprisonment for a term up to to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.
• The apex court said that the Centre can exercise its power to issue directions to block an internet site, saying there are adequate procedural safeguards. The court also said that national security is above individual privacy.
• As we know that the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 allows the central government to tap phones. The Supreme Court had given a verdict in 1996 and said that the government can tap phones only in case of a “public emergency”.
• But in the case of Section 69 of the IT Act, no such restriction is imposed by the Supreme Court.
• Recently the government of India had banned many Chinese apps citing the provisions of Section 69A of the information technology act, 2000.