Alt News founder is latest to get Twitter notice on Law Enforcement agency

New Delhi: Fact-checking platform Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair received a mail from Twitter informing him that Indian law enforcement agencies have sought action against his account. Cartoonist Manjul and retired Indian Administrative Services officer Surya Pratap Singh also received a similar notice a week ago, The Indian Express reported.

The details regarding which law enforcement agency has sought action are not mentioned in the notice. Typically, requests seeking legal actions against Twitter accounts are directed through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Such requests are made upon emergencies like a threat to life, child sexual exploitation, and terrorism. As per the existing system allows any law enforcement unit or any officer, no matter how small, can file the request. Twitter is obliged to acknowledge the legal request and send a response to either the law enforcement agency (or officer) and the user.

Manjul is receiving the notice for the first time. But Mohammed Zubair told the Indian Express that he had received 10-12 such notices over the last one year.

Ministry officials denied any such involvement in all three notices sent by the microblogging platform. The Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that the Ministry of Information and Technology had reached out to Twitter asking to block the account of Indo-Canadian pop singer Jaswinder Singh Bains or JazzyB. The action was taken under section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

JazzyB was accused of using Twitter to provoke communal sentiments. His posts allegedly glorified Sikh militancy and spread pro-Khalistan statements on the anniversary of Operation Blue Star. The Indian Express reported that the ministry took action because of his social media influencer status and the large number of people seeing his tweets.