The Karnataka High Court has rejected a plea from Twitter, a popular social media platform, challenging the centre's orders to remove certain tweets and accounts. In addition, the court has imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh (approximately $66,500) on Twitter for its conduct.
The court refused Twitter's request to suspend the order. Justice Krishna Dixit, who moderated the case, indicated that a foreign company like Twitter cannot claim the rights of freedom of expression and personal liberty guaranteed to Indian citizens as per Articles 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. The full details of the court's order are still awaited, by the time of writing.
Twitter approached the Karnataka High Court in June 2022, contesting the blocking orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The company argued that the orders were arbitrary and violated freedom of speech and expression.
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In April 2025, the High Court questioned the government about the lack of reasons provided for blocking certain Twitter accounts, considering the takedown orders issued earlier. The court noted that transparency was becoming increasingly important and that Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, under which the government made the takedown request, required the recording of reasons for such actions.
The government contended that Twitter, being a foreign entity, could not claim the enforcement of fundamental rights. Twitter, however, argued that it was invoking the writ jurisdiction to address the violation of protocols prescribed under Section 69A of the IT Act. It also claimed that foreign entities were entitled to rights under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
Last year, on June 28, the government instructed Twitter to comply with the orders by July 4, warning that failure to do so would result in the loss of legal protection as an intermediary. Losing this protection would mean that Twitter executives could face fines and imprisonment for up to seven years in cases of violations of IT laws by users. Twitter challenged some of the blocking orders in court in response.
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Twitter insisted that the government should have provided notice to the owners of the Twitter handles affected by the blocking orders. The company claimed that it was prohibited from informing the account holders about the government's takedown orders.
This development comes after Jack Dorsey, Twitter's former CEO and co-founder, accused the Indian government of threatening to shut down the platform in the country unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the handling of farmer protests in 2021. The Indian government dismissed these allegations as false.
Inputs from PTI
