The social media behemoth Twitter was issued a warning by the Ministry of Electronics and IT on June 27 to comply with its blocking directives by July 4 or face losing its immunity as an intermediary. Ministry of Electronics and IT stated that the corporation has repeatedly disobeyed the user of the order Section 69(A) in the notice provided as “one last opportunity for microblogging website.”

According to reports, the government attempted to prohibit content that had not yet been obeyed on June 6 and June 9.

The notice was sent to Twitter’s chief compliance officer. In accordance with Section 69(A) of the Information Technology Act, which gives the GoI the authority to send blocking notifications to social media sites, it was said that the designated officer of the ministry issued various directives to block specific items of content and accounts. However, Twitter disobeyed a number of directives. Notably, the business had provided a list of 80 accounts that will be barred as a result of government directives starting in 2021.

 

By failing to follow the directives by July 4, Twitter runs the risk of losing its status as an intermediary. If it does, the social media juggernaut will be responsible for the user-posted content on the website. A top government official was quoted by Indian Express without mentioning his identity. “The notices submitted to Twitter pertain to multiple incidents, both where the government had requested that it remove some content and where the firm had incorrectly removed some content,” the person stated.

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