RTI Act: CIC Upholds Denial Of Information On Blocking Of 'X' Accounts Covering Farmers' Protests And Those Critical Of Government

Disposing of an appeal moved by a RTI applicant against denial of information pertaining to blocking of 'X' accounts covering "farmers' protests and those critical of the government", the Central Information Commission said that the response of the Public Information Officer was "appropriate and well within the precincts of the RTI Act". The appellant-applicant in his RTI application had sought complete correspondence with emails, phone calls made by competent authorities/Ministry of Information and Technology etc., with social media platform 'X' relating to blocking of accounts covering farmers' protests and those critical of the government. It also said that section 69A of the Information Technology Act and its matters are "related to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence"; this attracts provisions of 8 of the RTI Act. Against this the appellant applicant moved a first appeal before the appellate authority which said that "there is no additional information is available to offer", reiterating that the sought information is exempted under Section 8 of the RTI Act.