Govt threatens Twitter with penal action for unblocking accounts

The Narendra Modi government has threatened Twitter with penal action for unilaterally unblocking the accounts of those who had tweeted with the hashtag “ModiPlanningFarmersGenocide” within a few hours of acting against them on Monday.Electronics and IT ministry sources said the government had issued a notice to the micro-blogging site to comply with its January 31 order to block 257 URLs and one hashtag under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 9(1) of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.In the notice, the ministry said that Section 69A(3) of the IT Act specified the punishment for those failing to comply with directions issued under Section 69A.Twitter has again been asked to block the handles and the hashtag immediately but the micro-blogging site had not complied till late Wednesday night, over a day after the notice had been sent.