SC to hear plea challenging centre’s power to takedown social media content without notice

The Supreme Court on Monday (March 3) agreed to hear a plea challenging the government’s power to take down content from social media platforms without issuing notice to the account owner.

A bench led by Justice BR Gavai observed that prima facie, the government should notify the concerned individual before directing the removal of content. Currently, under the Information Technology (IT) Rules, no such notice is issued to the account owner, with takedown orders being communicated only to the intermediary (social media platform) in a confidential…