Twitter refuses to comply with Centre's order to block one hashtag, 257 URLs on Farmers Protests; "Astonished" Centre warns of penal action

The Central government has asked Twitter Inc for the second time in three days to block tweets with the hashtag 'ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide' and also to block 257 URLs relating to the ongoing farmers protests. .The Centre has claimed that the hashtag and URLs are spreading misinformation and could lead to imminent violence affecting public order situation in the country. ."The hashtag has been found to be instigating people to commit cognizable offences in relation to public order and security of the State. Freedom of press cannot be taken as a pretense to disseminate information which may incite violence or affect public order," the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has told Twitter in a communication dated February 2, 2021. .The notice has warned Twitter of penal consequences under Section 69A[3] of Information Technology Act in case of non-compliance with the directions issued by the Centre. As per this provision, an intermediary (Twitter in this case) who fails to comply with a direction issued under 69(1) shall be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years and fine..The Centre had earlier issued an interim order on January 31 asking Twitter to take down the relevant URLs and the hashtag, but the same was not complied with until just before the the Committee meeting held on February 1. Twitter on February 1 wrote back to MEITY declining to obey the order issued by the government and expressed such views at the Committee meeting as well..Twitter, the Centre government has said, is an intermediary under Section 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology Act. An intermediary is bound to comply with an order issued by the designated officer authorised by the Central government, failing which statutory consequence will follow, the notice warns. .In this regard, Centre has cited Section 69A of the IT Act, as per which the Centre can direct an intermediary to block access to any information in order to prevent incitement to commission of any cognizable offence relating to public order. .The Centre has also taken objection to Twitter commenting upon issues related to freedom of speech. "It is astonishing that Twitter despite being bound by statutory provisions validly enacted by the competent Legislature is commenting upon "significant issues relating to freedom of speech", relating to power of Central government under Section 69A and the Constitutional desirability of interim order dated January 31," the notice states. .The notice goes on to cite at least ten Supreme Court judgments on the scope of "public order", press freedom and doctrine of proportionality before ordering Twitter to take down the relevant hashtag and URLs.