The Indian Express reported that the Centre directed X to withhold the satirical Cockroach Janta Party account under Section 69A of the IT Act.
The Intelligence Bureau flagged it as a potential threat to India’s sovereignty and national security.
Founder Abhijeet Dipke announced that the account had been withheld in India and quickly launched a replacement handle.
Centre Orders X to Withhold ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ Account Over National Security Concerns: Report
According to officials quoted by The Indian Express, authorities were concerned that the account’s allegedly inflammatory content was gaining significant traction, particularly among young users. The account had around 90,000 followers when the blocking order was issued and over 200,000 by Thursday evening.
Summary
The X account of Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical handle created in the aftermath of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s remarks about those who “attack the system”, was withheld in India on Thursday following a directive from the Central government. The move reportedly came after the Intelligence Bureau (IB) raised concerns related to national security, according to a senior government official.
According to The Indian Express the report, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed X to withhold the account under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, based on inputs received from the IB.
“MeitY received an input from the IB to block the X account of Cockroach Janta Party, citing that it posed a threat to the sovereignty of India. The IB believed that the account was posting inflammatory content through its account, which could have jeopardised the country’s national security,” the official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity, noting that such blocking orders are issued under a confidential framework. “In particular, the concern stemmed from the fact that the account’s content was gaining traction among young people.”
Section 69A of the Information Technology Act empowers the Central government to restrict public access to information in the interest of sovereignty, national security, public order, or to prevent incitement to offences.
According to The Indian Express, the process is governed by the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, under which blocking orders remain confidential.
Although the X account has been withheld in India, it remains accessible in other countries. The report noted that it had amassed more than 200,000 followers by Thursday evening. A second government official told the newspaper that the blocking order had been issued when the account had approximately 90,000 followers.
The Instagram account linked to the platform had not been blocked in India as of Thursday and reportedly had more than 16 million followers.
“However, it is likely that the Instagram account would also be blocked, and that process is currently underway,” the senior official said.
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The Indian Express further reported that queries sent to the Ministries of Home Affairs and Electronics and Information Technology, as well as to X, did not receive a response.
“As expected, Cockroach Janta Party’s account has been withheld in India,” the platform’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke, wrote on Thursday afternoon. Less than two hours later, he announced a new account, Cockroach Is Back, and encouraged followers to migrate to the new handle.
Under X’s content moderation guidelines, accounts or posts may be withheld when the platform receives a “valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity”.
“Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s),” the platform states.
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