Karnataka HC dismisses Twitter’s plea against Centre’s account blocking orders

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc challenging the blocking orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, Live Law reports.

A single judge Justice Krishna S Dixit also imposed costs of Rs. 50 lakh on the microblogging platform citing her behaviour. It also rejected Twitter's request to suspend the order.

“Your client (Twitter) received a notice and your client failed to compl. Penalty for failure to comply is 7 years in prison and an unlimited fine. Even that didn't deter your client. So you have given no reason why you have delayed compliance, more than a year late then suddenly you comply and go to Court. You are not a farmer but a billion dollar company,” the Bench said while pronouncing the verdict.

The court dealt with eight questions in this matter. First, to the question of legal standing. This has been answered for the benefit of your Twitter. Second, whether there is a link between the blocking order and the reasons for such an order. This is brought against Twitter. "On the question of proportionality, whether the blocking should be tweet-specific or period-specific, I argued against you," Justice Dixit said.

The bench also refused to issue Directions to the Centre, as sought by advocate Manu Kulkarni for Twitter, to exercise its powers under Section 69A.

“Under the above circumstances, the motion may be unreasonably dismissed with exemplary costs and is therefore dismissed. The petitioner is levied exemplary costs of Rs 50 lakh payable to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days and if there is any delay, an additional Rs 5,000 per day will be required,” the court ordered.

Twitter argued that the blocking orders are "procedurally and substantively deficient" and "demonstrate an excessive use of authority and are unreasonable".