Twitter challenges Indian court ruling on content blocking orders

The social media company says if its appeal is rejected, the government will be emboldened to issue more blocking orders

• Chandrashekar Bhat
• 02 August, 2023

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By: Chandrashekar Bhat

SOCIAL media platform Twitter has sought to quash an Indian court decision that found it non-compliant with content removal orders, arguing the ruling could embolden the government to block more content.

Twitter, rebranded now as X, sought in July 2022 to overturn some government orders to remove content from its platform, without specifying which. A court in June 2023 quashed that request and imposed a fine of Rs 5 million ($60,560).

If Twitter’s appeal is rejected, the government “will be emboldened to issue more blocking orders” that violate law, said Twitter’s 96 page filing submitted by local law firm Poovayya & Co.

Twitter, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said in the filing there must be “discernible parameters” on what mandates the blocking of an entire account instead of a specific post, otherwise the government’s “power to censor future content is untrammeled”.

Twitter in previous years has been asked by Indian authorities to act on content including accounts deemed supportive of an independent Sikh state, posts alleged to have spread misinformation about protests by farmers, and tweets critical of the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.