Intermediaries have right to judicial review, but have to follow India's rules: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said although intermediaries have the right to go for judicial review, they have to comply with the country’s laws and rules.

The minister's tweet comes hours after reports said that Twitter is suing the Indian government over content takedown orders issued by the government.

In his tweet, Chandrasekhar said, “In India,all incldng (sic) foreign Internet intermediaries/platforms have right to court n judicial review (sic). But equally ALL intermediary/platforms operating here, have unambiguous obligation to comply with our laws n rules.”

It is important to note that Chandrasekhar did not directly name any intermediary in the tweet. However, the timing of the update indicates an apparent reference to the micro-blogging platform which has been in the cross hairs of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology regarding compliance with the IT Rules 2021.

It was reported recently that Twitter was given a 'last chance' to comply with the IT Rules, citing that the intermediary was not complying with takedown orders of content.

However, a Moneycontrol analysis showed that Twitter already has taken the most number of actions on pieces of content (tweets and accounts) for 2022 in June.

An analysis of the Lumen Database, a website that receives and publishes disclosures by social media companies on takedown notices from governments across the world, reveals Twitter made 14 such disclosures in June.

The latest round of disclosures were made by Twitter on July 1 and July 4.