High Court dismisses Twitter’s plea against Centre’s order, imposes Rs 50 lakh fine
New Delhi: The Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc challenging the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s order to remove and block content. At the same time, the court said that there is no basis for the company’s petition.
A single bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the Twitter company and ordered it to be deposited with the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days.
“In the above circumstances, this petition may be dismissed with exemplary fine on account of being baseless and is done accordingly. A fine of Rs 50 lakh is imposed on the petitioner, payable to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, Bengaluru, within 45 days. If it is delayed, it will incur an additional charge of Rs 5,000 per day.”
“I agree with the contention of the Centre that they have the power to block tweets and block accounts,” the judge said while dismissing Twitter’s plea.