File counter on tweets linking COVID-19 spread to Islam: Telangana High Court to Twitter
On June 22, the court had issued notices to Twitter, the Centre and the State government based on a PIL filed by an advocate Khaja Aijazuddin.
Published: 25th July 2020 07:36 AM | Last Updated: 25th July 2020 07:36 AM | A+A A-
The file photo shows the Twitter app icon on a mobile phone in Philadelphia. (Photo | AP)
HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Friday directed the micro-blogging platform Twitter to file a counter affidavit in the PIL filed seeking removal of ‘offensive’ posts linking the Covid-19 pandemic to Islam from its site.
How does Twitter allow itself to be a platform for hatemongers to spread venom against Islam? Just the mere deletion of hate tweets will not suffice, the bench observed.
On June 22, the court had issued notices to Twitter, the Centre and the state government based on a PIL filed by an advocate Khaja Aijazuddin.
The plea sought a direction to Twitter to remove the alleged trending of hashtags or Islamophobic posts which he said were in many ways attaching the pandemic with the religion by some users on the platform.
The petitioner sought the remova l o f hashtags #Islamiccoronavirusjihad, #Coronajihad, #Tablighijamat, among others, from social media.
Following this, such contents were removed by the social media giant.
The petitioner has also requested the court to direct the state government to register criminal cases against Twitter users who were allegedly spreading such messages.
