Blocking of Hindutva Watch account ‘unjustified, disproportionate’: X tells Delhi HC
The social media company said it would restore the hate-crime tracker’s profile, which has been withheld in India, on the court’s direction.
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The Centre’s decision to block the X account of hate-crime tracker Hindutva Watch is “unjustified and disproportionate”, the social media platform has told the Delhi High Court, reported Bar and Bench on Saturday.
The submission came in response to a plea by Kashmiri journalist Raqib Hameed Naik.
Naik, who moved to the United States in 2020, founded Hindutva Watch in April 2021 as an independent research project to monitor reports of attacks on Muslims and marginalised communities by Hindutva groups in India.
On X, formerly Twitter, it regularly posted videos and news snippets about such violence.
X withheld the account in India in January in response to a legal demand from the Indian government. Hindutva Watch’s website has also been blocked in India.
The government order that led to the blocking of Hindutva Watch’s account said it had violated the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Under Section 69A of the Act, the Centre can send content removal requests to social media companies on the grounds of protecting national integrity and security, and ensuring friendly relations with foreign states, among other reasons.
X informed the Delhi High Court that it is willing to restore the account, reported Bar and Bench.
However, the social media platform also said that Hameed’s petition challenging the blocking of Hindutva Watch’s account was not maintainable against it, since it...
