The authorities ordering the takedown of a social media page must inform the user along with notifying the intermediary, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed.
In an October 5 order, the court said that though the 2021 Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules do not explicitly mention the need to inform the user whose content has been ordered by the authorities to be taken down, it is an obligation as per the “principles of natural justice”.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Haryana 24 News Network against a takedown order issued by the superintendent of police in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana on August 21 to block its Facebook page in India.
The petitioner told the court that it had not been given prior notice before its Facebook page was blocked.
The police responded that one of the company’s directors was an accused in an extortion case and had been using the page to allegedly intimidate the victim and witnesses. Therefore, an order was issued to Facebook to disable the page, the police said.
However, the court noted that only an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general of police or higher can issue such a notice.
It observed that the notice issued by the superintendent of...