Why Govt asked X to withhold Cockroach Janta Party's account — inflammatory content, national security concerns: Report

Key points

• The X handle of the satirical page Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was withheld following a directive from the Modi-led Union government after the Intelligence Bureau (IB) raised “national security concerns”, The Indian Express reported today, citing a senior government official.
• According to the report, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked X to withhold the satirical account under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The official added that the input to do so came from IB, as the central agency cited a threat to the sovereignty of India.
• What Govt said: "The IB believed that the account was posting inflammatory content through its account, which could have jeopardised the country’s national security,” the official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity since the government issues such blocking orders under a confidential framework.
• The concern, in particular, stemmed from the fact that the account's content was...