The Karnataka High Court on Friday, June 30, dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc that challenged up to 10 blocking orders issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) between February 2021 and 2022. The orders had reportedly asked the microblogging platform to take down 39 URLs, and Twitter moved court on the ground that account-level blocking violates user’s rights. Justice Krishna S Dixit, while dismissing the petition, also imposed a significant cost of ₹50 lakh on the petitioner. The court stated that Twitter's petition lacked merit as it failed to provide valid reasons for not complying with the Union government's demands for blocking the URLs in a timely manner.
“Twitter has not given reasons for not complying with the Union government's demands for blocking. Twitter is not a farmer or ordinary person but it is a billionaire company,” said the bench. It also emphasised that Twitter, being a foreign company, cannot assert the rights of freedom of expression and personal liberty guaranteed to Indian citizens under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Furthermore, the bench stated that if there is any delay in payment on the part of Twitter, an amount of Rs 5,000 is to be paid for every additional day.
In its petition, Twitter argued that the blocking orders issued by the MeiTY under the Information Technology Act showcased an excessive and disproportionate exercise of powers, and that MeiTY had issued a notice cautioning about the severe repercussions of non-compliance with the blocking orders. The notice also apparently mentioned the possibility of criminal proceedings, besides emphasising that failing to comply with the account-blocking directives would be a missed opportunity.
Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Twitter, further explained to the court that if the blocking orders persisted, it would result in the complete closure of Twitter's operations. However, the Union government countered that Twitter lacks the authority to speak on behalf of its account holders and, therefore, has no locus standi to file the petition.
While dismissing the petition, Justice Krishna S Dixit also observed that as per the rules, the reasons for blocking the accounts should be recorded and provided to the microblogging platform. This, however, has not been done so far, he pointed out.
The MeiTY had issued blocking orders for approximately 1,100 Twitter accounts, prompting the Karnataka HC to earlier issue a notice to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Prime Minister Modi.