Karnataka HC slaps ₹50 lakh fine on Twitter and dismisses plea challenging centre's orders for blocking accounts

Microblogging site Twitter has been fined ₹50 lakh and their plea challenging the centre’s direction to block accounts on their platform has been dismissed by Karnataka HC. Justice KS Dixit stated that Twitter did not comply with the notices served to them for a whole year.

Between Feb 2021 and 2022, Twitter was issued ten blocking orders from the centre for certain objectionable accounts and tweets on the grounds of spreading misinformation on the platform, cited as ‘lies’ during the farmer protests in India.

“You are not a farmer but a billion-dollar company”

Justice KS Dixit of the Karnataka high court had slapped a fine of ₹50 lakh on Twitter Inc. for not complying with the notices served to them. Justice Dixit stated that Twitter is a billion-dollar company and not a farmer who is unfamiliar with the law. The  judge also issued a deadline of 45 days to pay the fine, or an additional fine of ₹5,000 per day shall be levied on them.

Centre not empowered to direct blocking orders: Twitter

Twitter argued to the court that the central government cannot issue blocking orders for social media accounts without specifying a reason, as it needs to be communicated to the users. They argued that it was a matter of suppressing the users’ freedom of speech. The petition was filed by Twitter, challenging ten orders directed by the centre between Feb 2021 and 2022 ordering Twitter to take down 39 URLs.

Twitter as a foreign company cannot avail rights of India, centre argued

Additional Solicitor General R. Sankaranarayanan, representing the central government, argued that Twitter cannot avail itself of any fundamental rights guaranteed to an Indian citizen. He argued that the order was to ‘contain people who have posted content that is injurious to the security of the nation or public order’.

Former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey alleges arm-bending by centre

Twitter’s ex-CEO Jack Dorsey has recently talked about India’s central government and accused them of arm-bending them to block certain accounts affiliated with the farmer protests in India. Twitter has also stated in the Karnataka HC that the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeiTY) had served them a letter stating serious consequences, including criminal proceedings, if not complied with. Following which Twitter  approached the court.

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