AAP Gujarat unit moves Supreme Court against blocking of its Facebook, Insta pages

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Central government, State of Gujarat and Meta Platforms on a plea filed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) challenging the blocking of the Facebook page and Instagram handle of its Gujarat unit shortly before local body elections in the State.

A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed that the matter be tagged with the pending petition in Software Freedom Law Centre, India v. Union of India, which concerns the scope of blocking powers, procedural safeguards and compliance with principles of natural justice in online content takedown cases.

Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for AAP, argued that the blocking action was purportedly taken under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, which deals with intermediary liability and safe harbour protections and does not itself confer any independent power to block entire accounts.

“Here they are invoking Section 79(3)(b), which is a safe harbour provision for the intermediary to do blocking. My portal is gone,” Farasat submitted during the hearing.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, said that the issue was already pending before the Chief Justice-led Bench in the Software Freedom matte. He submitted that the present plea could be tagged with it without issuance of notice.

Farasat, however, pressed for interim protection, saying that the Gujarat unit’s social media accounts had already become inaccessible.

“Today my portal is gone, so there’s something in the interim that I may need,” he said.

The Court ultimately issued notice and tagged it with the pending case before the Chief Justice of India.

The plea was filed by AAP and Sharma Anup, Secretary of the party’s Gujarat unit.

According to the petition, Meta informed the party that access to the accounts had been restricted in India pursuant to a notice from the “Government of India / Law Enforcement under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.”

The petition states that neither the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), nor the Gujarat government or police, nor Meta supplied any blocking order, reasons, or prior notice before suspending the accounts.

The suspension was allegedly triggered by repeated copyright complaints over the party’s use of clips from popular Gujarati films in campaign material circulated online.

AAP contends that blocking the entire Facebook page and Instagram handle of a recognised national political party amounts to disproportionate prior restraint on political speech and democratic participation.

Referring to decisions such as Shreya Singhal v. Union of India and Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India, the plea argues that restrictions on online speech must satisfy standards of proportionality, transparency and procedural fairness.

AAP has also claimed that the action has a chilling effect on opposition political speech and undermines multi-party democracy.

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