Twitter reached the court amid clashes with the central government

Social media platform Twitter has raised the demand to withdraw some orders of the Government of India regarding the content. Giving this information, a source related to the matter said that the company has challenged it legally, calling it abuse of power on the part of the officials.

Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar tweeted, “All foreign internet intermediaries/platforms in India are subject to court and judicial review but all intermediary/platforms operating here must comply with the laws/rules of the country.”
In its petition filed in the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, Twitter said that the government wants to stop certain content posted by the handles of political parties. Twitter argues that this is a violation of freedom of expression.

There are 23 million (23 million) Twitter users in India and it is the company’s third largest market.
The US-based micro-blogging site’s attempt to do a judicial review of the controversial content is being seen as part of its conflict with the central government. Twitter has not fully complied with the government’s orders to remove mass content.

Twitter has argued that these orders are arbitrary and show abuse of power Twitter believes that account-based blocking is an in principle inconsistent measure and a violation of users’ rights under the Constitution. Especially when the reason for blocking the URL and the account does not fully satisfy even section 69A. Its logic is, even the Ministry of Electronics and IT has said that deleting the entire account of the user should be the last resort.

On June 28, the central government had written a letter to Twitter asking it to comply with the orders by July 4. Together it was also said that in the event of not doing so, you will lose the legal protection in the form of intermediary.

Losing the legal shield means that Twitter executives can be fined and jailed up to seven years for violating IT rules on the part of users. Twitter has challenged some blocking orders in court.

Twitter has been asked by Indian authorities to take action over the past year on accounts supporting an independent Sikh state and dozens of tweets criticizing the government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to this legal step of Twitter, the government has said that it is very important to make social media accountable. “