The Supreme Court of India has agreed to the objections raised by the state court about taking down videos and blocking content creators on social media. It cites the “Blocking rules 2009” and has further stated that not hearing the creator’s side of the story before taking down their videos or blocking them violated their right to be heard.
advocate Indira Jaising told a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran that under Rule 9 of Blocking Rules, authorities had the freedom to issue notice either to the content creator or the social media platform which hosted the content. Be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media platforms, authorities give blocking notices only to them to avoid giving reasons to the content creator for deciding to block certain posts, Jaising said.
She further added “The arbitrary use of Rule 9 as an emergency provision to block user content without any prior notification leaves the originator of the content no mechanism of relief due to the lack of a notice, a reasoned order, and an opportunity to be heard. These rights are intrinsic to freedom of speech and expression, and the right to receive information, which can be granted to the originator even as the blocking order is in effect,”
According to her, the fact that the person giving the notice was under no obligation to seek response or clarification on the content creation of any sort and that since, they could take down the created content from the website not even giving them a chance to post it back proves that the content creators are not given an opportunity to speak or clarify their side of the story.
