UKHRUL: The Press Club of India (PCI) has expressed its concern over the recent spate of takedown orders issued across social media platforms targeting content critical of the government, where creators have been blocked or their material removed.
“Such executive actions amount to a denial of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a), as ruled by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India, where the court struck down vague provisions enabling arbitrary online censorship for lacking precise nexus to constitutional restrictions and creating a chilling effect,” PCI Managing Committee said in a statement.
Also Read | Press Club of India demands immediate withdrawal of FIR against EGI
It termed the move both arbitrary and violative of the Constitution.
It may be recalled that authorities have issued fresh takedown orders to Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), targeting fact-checker Mohammed Zubair and news outlets Molitics and National Dastak in the last few days.
Earlier, in March, the YouTube account of 4PM News had been blocked. More recently, on Facebook, pages of Molitics, National Dastak (with over 1.4 million followers), and satirist Rajeev Nigam were blocked in India following takedown requests under the IT Act, displaying notices that content was removed due to violations of Indian laws.
On X, Zubair reportedly received notification that multiple posts were blocked nationwide per a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) order under Section 69A, though the specific content wasn’t detailed.
Also Read | Press Club of India & Editors Guild condemns AltNews co-founder Muhammad Zubair’s arrest
“This wave of actions continues a pattern against critical voices, with National Dastak previously facing YouTube restrictions blamed on tax authorities,” it stated.
Strongly opposing these instances of blatant executive overreach, PCI demanded that the authorities respect citizens’ and journalists’ fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined in and protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution.
“The opacity in the process (with no reasons provided for the takedown requests) makes this online censorship both arbitrary and violative of the Constitution,” it added.