Twitter approached the Karnataka HC last year against central government orders to take down certain accounts
A Karnataka high court reportedly dismissed Twitter’s plea against the central government and imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh citing its conduct.
The microblogging platform had approached the court in July last year against a central government order that required blocking certain accounts.
Twitter was represented by Senior Advocates Ashok Haranahalli, Arvind Datar and Advocate Manu Kulkarni represented Twitter. Additional Solicitor General of India R Sankaranarayanan was the Central government’s representative.
It argued that the orders were arbitrary and infringed upon the freedom of speech.
The central government countered Twitter’s allegations by saying that the order was given in order to preserve national interests and to prevent instances of lynching and mob violence.
The government order between February 2021 and 2022 asked Twitter to take down 39 URLs.
The court refused Twitter’s request to impose a stay on the operation of the order. Justice Krishna S Dixit told Twitter that it is not a “farmer or labourer” who doesn’t know the law but a billion-dollar company. He said that Twitter is free to argue before the court to change the cost imposed.
