The Supreme Court today(August 25) dismissed a plea filed by the YSR Congress Party challenging the takedown and blocking of its social media posts from its official handles 'Jagananna Connects' on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X(formerly Twitter), allegedly at the instance of the Andhra Pradesh Government.

A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu dismissed the writ petition and asked the party to approach the jurisdictional High Court.

YSR Congress Party approached the Supreme Court under Article 32, challenging the manner in which its social media posts from official party handles have been taken down allegedly at the instance of the State government, contrary to the manner laid down in Shreya Singhal v UOI(2014).

YSR has said that it posted on October 26, 2025, on X regarding the Kurnool tragedy caused due to illegal belt shops. Subsequently, an FIR was registered alleging that the petitioner insulted the present Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, with the intention of provoking the cadre of the Telugu Desam Party.

The petitioner states that it continued to post about this issue and random FIRs continued to be lodged against it. On January 27, the Inspector of Police, Kurnool Rural Circle, issued a notice to Twitter asking it to take down the URLs which the petitioner has posted.

YSR party further alleged that when it posted another tweet drawing attention to the censorship imposed by the State, the Inspector issued a notice under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000 read with Rule 3(1)(d),(g), and (f) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 directing to remove the accounts and Twitter posts within 36 hours failing which the safe harbour protection will be withdrawn.

As per Shreya Singhal, content can be blocked or taken down by an order of the designated officer of the central government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 or by a competent Court.

The petitioner has stated that they have not received any orders under Section 69A of the IT Act or an order of the competent Court. Instead, it has claimed that the State resorted to issuing notices being issued by the Inspector of Police of various police stations under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, directing intermediaries to take down posts and entire accounts within 36 hours.

Case Details: YUVAJANA SRAMIKA RYTHU CONGRESS PARTY Vs THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH|W.P.(C) No. 1036/2026

Filed through AoR Mahfooz A Nazki