Are current Indian laws sufficient to tame Twitter in changed digital landscape?

New Delhi, July 6 With Twitter once again taking the Indian government to court, the debate has reignited over insufficient IT laws demanding the clearance of new IT Rules, 2021 as soon as possible to tame Big Tech and penalise them if found not complying with the law of the land, amid a completely changed digital landscape from two decades ago.

When the IT Act, 2000 was passed, there was no social media presence. Today, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are dictating the public discourse and being used for disseminating fake news and trolls from across the spectrum.

The Information Technology Act, 2000, which got amended only in 2008, is neither a data privacy law nor a data protection law.

In such a scenario, is its Section 69A sufficient to book social media biggies and even penalise them for not complying with the government content blocking orders, especially when it comes to national security?

According to New Delhi-based cyberlaw expert Virag Gupta, two decades back, intermediaries were acting as the messenger carrying a message from point A to point B, without interfering in it in any manner.

"Nowadays, social media platforms are aggressively active and no longer playing the role of a conventional intermediary," Gupta told .

Twitter is an intermediary as per the Indian law which has to compulsorily comply with directions issued by the authorities under section 69A of the IT Act.

According to experts, failure to comply with any such directions would take away the indemnity provided under section 79 of the IT Act.

"Section 69A of the IT Act gives immense and extraordinary power to the government for blocking the content, which can be challenged before the High Court or Supreme Court," said Gupta.

However, its purpose is to maintain public order, prevent cognisable offences and protect sovereignty, integrity, defence, security and India's friendly relation with foreign states.

Freedom of speech is guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution. However there are many restrictions under Article 19