Chandigarh, Oct. 21 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that whenever the government directs a social media platform to block a page or remove online content, a copy of the intimation sent to the intermediary must also be provided to the affected user.

The court held that informing the user is an essential requirement under the principles of natural justice, even though the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, do not explicitly prescribe such an obligation.

The ruling came in a petition filed by Haryana 24 News Network Private Limited, a news platform operating in Haryana, which approached the high court after Meta blocked its social media page in India on August 21, foll...