Twitter Fined Rs 50 lakh by Karnataka High Court in case against Govt order Full details

The Karnataka High Court on Friday rejected Twitter’s petition against the Central Government’s order. The Center had asked Twitter to block some accounts, tweets and URLs, which the company did not agree to. The order was challenged in court. The court said that the company’s petition has no basis. While hearing the case, Justice Krishna S. Dixit’s single bench imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter and directed to deposit the fine amount within 45 days.

According to PTI report, Justice Dixit, while dismissing Twitter’s plea, said that he agreed with the Centre’s argument that the government has the power to block tweets and ban accounts.

Twitter had challenged 10 different orders issued by the central government between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022. Twitter had earlier claimed that the government had directed it to block 1474 Twitter accounts, 175 tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag, but only the orders related to 39 URLs were challenged in the court. The court had reserved its decision in this case on April 21, which was pronounced today.

Twitter had described the government orders as arbitrary and against freedom of expression. Despite knowing that there is a provision of 7 years imprisonment and fine for not following the Centre’s order, Twitter did not follow the orders. In its decision, the court told Twitter that you are a company worth billions of dollars, not a farmer or a common man who is not aware of the law.

The Central Government Minister has also reacted to this decision. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar has said that Twitter’s decision to challenge the government notice in court to block some accounts was actually part of the ‘fictitious story’ put forward by the company’s former CEO Jack Dorsey.

All platforms hv to be in compliance with Indian law n @Twitter under @jack repeatedly refused to do so. In response to @GoI_MeitY ‘s notice for non-compliance they approached Karnataka High Court n judgment 👇🏻

✅Karnataka High Court has dismissed the petition filed by…

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 30, 2023

It is noteworthy that former Twitter CEO Dorsey had recently claimed that the Indian government had warned of shutting down the company in the country and raiding its employees if Twitter posts were not removed and Twitter accounts were not banned. Dorsey had claimed that the posts and accounts that were pressured to be removed were related to protests against agricultural laws and criticism of the government.

The minister said that the court order makes it clear that all platforms will have to follow Indian law.