Karnataka High Court Imposes Rs 50 Lakh Penalty On Twitter For Non-Adherence To Indian Government Regulations
Twitter’s attempt to challenge the orders issued by the Government of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for non-compliance has been rejected by the Karnataka High Court. Additionally, the micro-blogging platform has been fined Rs 50 lakh.
For the uninitiated, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had asked Twitter to delete some accounts with tweets related to farmers’ protests and the coronavirus. Twitter simply rejected the orders, saying the orders “demonstrated an excessive use of authority,” according to LiveLaw.
Twitter has reportedly been sent notices about the same, but it reportedly did not comply. In fact, Twitter was also told that the penalty for “not complying with the law is 7 years in prison and an unlimited fine,” but that didn’t “frighten” Twitter either.
“Karnataka High Court has dismissed the petition filed by @Twitter challenging the stay orders granted to it by @GoI_MeitY u/s.69(A) of IT Act 2000,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, said in a tweet.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar has already disputed former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s claim that the Indian government pressured the social media platform during the farmers’ protest in 2021. He called Dorsey’s statements a “blatant lie” and an “attempt to whitewash Twitter’s controversial past.”
“So you have not given any reason as to why you delayed compliance, a delay of over a year… and then suddenly you comply and approach the court. You are not a farmer but a billion dollar company,” the court’s Bench said while announcing the verdict.
