An Indian court has dismissed Twitter’s lawsuit against the federal government, which aimed to challenge New Delhi’s block orders on tweets and accounts. The Karnataka High Court not only rejected the high-profile plea filed by Twitter last year but also imposed a fine of 5 million Indian rupees ($61,000) on the Elon Musk-owned company. The court criticized Twitter for failing to provide reasons for its delayed compliance with amendments to India’s IT rules despite receiving notices.
In a scathing verdict on Friday, a single judge bench stated, “Your client (Twitter) was given notices and your client did not comply. Punishment for non-compliance is 7 years imprisonment and unlimited fine. That also did not deter your client. So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delay… then all of a sudden you comply and approach the Court. You are not a farmer but a billion-dollar company.”
Twitter had filed the plea against the Indian government in Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru last year, before the completion of Elon Musk’s acquisition, alleging that New Delhi had abused its power by ordering the platform to remove several tweets “arbitrarily and disproportionately.” The lawsuit also claimed that some block orders targeted political content posted by official handles of political parties.
Elon Musk, who seems to have a close relationship with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cited Twitter’s legal battle against the Indian government as one of the reasons for reconsidering the acquisition deal. Musk’s lawyers argued that the lawsuit exposed risks to Twitter’s third-largest market.
Over the past year and a half, Twitter has faced numerous requests from the Indian government to take down accounts and tweets, many of which criticized government policies and Prime Minister Modi. While Twitter partially complied with some of the requests, it sought to challenge many of the legal orders. However, under the amended IT rules implemented in 2021, Twitter had limited scope to individually contest takedown orders.
Friday’s verdict follows Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s recent claims that India frequently requested the removal of certain posts and accounts, often accompanied by threats of legal consequences for noncompliance. In response, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the federal deputy minister for information technology in India, dismissed Dorsey’s allegations and accused him of trying to brush over Twitter’s controversial history.
