Supreme Court Declines To Hear Plea For Guidelines On Social Media Account Suspension And Blocking

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking pan-India guidelines for governing social media intermediaries with respect to suspension and blocking of accounts. The court allowed the petitioners to withdraw their plea and seek a remedy before an appropriate forum, PTI reported. 

The counsel, arguing for the petitioners, said that their WhatsApp, which they used to communicate with the customers, was blocked.

A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta "There are other communication applications, you can use that," while questioning why their accounts were blocked. 

"What is your fundamental right to have access to WhatsApp?" the bench asked. They also probed the petitioners of why they directly approached the apex court with a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that they had a clinic and a polydiagnostic centre, were communicating with their clients through WhatsApp and had been using the messaging platform for the last 10-12 years.

The SC, however, said that recently an indigenous messaging app has been created and the petitioners may use that for communicating with their clients.

The counsel asked how their Whatsapp can be blocked without giving them any opportunity to respond.

"Is WhatsApp or the intermediary, a state?" the bench asked.

When the counsel said "it is not", the bench observed that even a writ petition might not be maintainable before the high court.

The bench directed them to file a civil suit.

With PTI inputs