Social media account can't be blocked because some posts are objectionable: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on July 31 directed the grievance officer of Meta Platforms to restore veteran journalist N Madhavan Kutty's Facebook account [N Madhavan Kutty v Union of India & ors]..Justice Ziyad Rahman AA held that authorities cannot block an entire social media account merely because some of its posts are alleged to be objectionable..The Court passed the interim order while hearing a plea by Madhavan Kutty challenging the blocking of his Facebook account in India by Meta pursuant to a request made by the Kerala Police.The Court observed that if any content uploaded by the petitioner affects the security of the state or otherwise against public interest, then authorities are free to seek blocking of those specific posts.However, in the present case, the Court observed that blocking the petitioner's entire Facebook account instead of identifying the objectionable content was, prima facie, beyond the scope of their powers."If there is any objectionable content that affects the security of the State or against the public interest, nothing would preclude the respondent to issue instruction to block such content. However, going by the documents produced before this Court, it is seen that, only in respect of some of the contents, the entire account itself is blocked. Therefore, I am prima facie of the view that the respondents have exceeded their powers," the Court observed..Madhavan Kutty stated that his Facebook account, which has around 6,000 followers, could not be accessed in India sinceNovember 2025.According to the petition, Meta informed him that access to his account was restricted in India in compliance with a legal request received from law enforcement authorities.He challenged the blocking of his account stating that it was ordered without prior notice or without giving any reasons and in violation of the safeguards prescribed under the Information Technology Act and Rule 3(g) of the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules), 2021 (2021 IT Rules).During the hearing, the State submitted that the direction to block the account was issued because of certain contents posted by the petitioner and the details of these posts were produced before the Court.Meta also submitted that from the time the account had remained blocked, the six month data preservation period under Rule 3(g) of the 2021 IT Rules had expired.The petitioner's counsel pointed out that only access to the account in India had been blocked and that the account continued to remain operational outside the country, a submission that was not disputed by the State..After examining the materials, the Court found that the authorities had sought to disable the petitioner's entire account even though the objections were related only to some of his posts.Accordingly, the Court directed Meta to restore the operation of the petitioner's Facebook account.The Court further directed the concerned police officer to furnish Meta with the URLs and particulars of the alleged objectionable posts so that only those specific posts could be removed or disabled.It also clarified that if the police subsequently identifies any other objectionable posts, the same should be communicated to Meta with the relevant URLs and it may disable access to those posts in accordance with law, without blocking the petitioner's entire account."Therefore, it is ordered that, as mentioned above, the petitioner shall be allowed to operate his account with the URL mentioned above and necessary steps shall be taken by the 9th respondent to enable the same forthwith," the Court added.It further directed that intimation of the interim order be given to the Director General of Police, Kerala and posted the matter for further consideration on September 1, 2026..Advocates Kaleeswaram Raj, Thulasi K Raj, Chinnu Maria Antony and Tarun Philip appeared for the petitioner. Central government counsel Amal Parthasaradhy appeared for the Union government..[Read Order]