BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Union of India on a petition filed by Twitter Inc challenging certain 'Blocking Orders' issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Hearing the petition filed by Twitter Inc, Justice Krishna S Dixit ordered notice to the Union of India and adjourned the hearing to August 25, 2022, at the request of Senior Counsels Mukul Rohatgi and Ashok Harnalli, representing Twitter Inc.
The court also permitted the petitioner to furnish the documents which it refers in pleadings in a sealed cover and same should be deposited in safe custody of the court and also said that it is open for the petitioner to serve those documents (contents not known) to the Central Government Panel counsel.
Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi argued that the Blocking Orders and their implementation will be confidential. Blocking Rules required reasons to be recorded for issuance of orders to block the accounts/URLs, as Twitter Inc is answerable to individual accounts holders to block their accounts. But no reasons were given while issuing such orders to block objectionable tweets. If such orders are complied as it is, our entire business will have to be closed, he argued
Twitter Inc challenged certain Blocking Orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Pursuant to the blocking orders, the Ministry has issued a communication dated June 27, 2022 directing Twitter Inc to comply, failing which it will prescribe serious consequences against Twitter Inc, that is, withdrawal of the protection under Section 79(1) of the IT Act.
Twitter contended that it has complied with the Blocking Orders under protest but objected to blocking directions in respect of 11 accounts. In response, on July 1, 2022, the Ministry issued a letter revoking their direction to block 10 Twitter accounts. To date, the petitioner has complied with the orders under protest, reserving liberty to challenge them in the petition filed before the court, Twitter Inc said.
Contending that certain parts of the Blocking orders are manifestly arbitrary, Twitter Inc argued that those orders fall foul of Section 69A both substantively and procedurally and ought to be quashed. In the alternative, the Ministry be directed to modify the Blocking Orders to identify specific tweets that are violative of Section 69A and revoke the account suspensions.