Plea against Centre: HC slaps R50 lakh cost on Twitter

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The High Court of Karnataka on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc., challenging several blocking and take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, saying the company's plea was devoid of merits.

The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter and ordered it to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days. "If delay is brooked, it attracts an additional levy of Rs 5,000 per day," it added.

"I am convinced with contention of the Centre that they have powers to block tweets and block accounts," the judge said. Twitter had challenged 10 different ‘blocking orders' issued by the Ministry between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022, under Section 69A of the IT Act. Twitter said that as per 69A, the account holders had to be informed about taking down their tweets and accounts, but no notice was issued by the Ministry to these account holders.

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