Twitter’s federal government lawsuit against New Delhi’s tweet and account restriction orders was dismissed by an Indian court.
The Karnataka High Court rejected the high-profile plea submitted last year and penalized the Elon Musk-owned corporation 5 million Indian rupees ($61,000). The court said that Twitter did not explain why it delayed compliance with India’s IT rule modifications despite notices.
Non-compliance carries a 7-year prison sentence and an unlimited fine. “That did not deter your client,” a single judge bench stated Friday.
“So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delay… then suddenly you comply and approach the Court. You are aCourtion-dollar firm, not a farmer.”
Twitter sued the Indian government in Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru last year, arguing that New Delhi had “arbitrarily and disproportionately” removed many messages from its platform. “Some block orders pertain to political content that is posted by official handles of political parties,” Twitter said in the lawsuit.
Musk, who looks to have a better rapport with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighted Twitter’s litigation against New Delhi as one of the many reasons he wanted out of last year’s acquisition deal. His lawyers argued the action threatened Twitter’s third-largest market.
Twitter filed the complaint after a difficult year and a half in India, during which it was ordered to remove hundreds of accounts and tweets, many of which were criticized for criticizing Modi and the Indian government.
Twitter partially obliged but fought various court orders. Twitter had little room to dispute removal orders under the 2021 Indian IT law reform.
Friday’s verdict follows Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s claim earlier this month that India repeatedly demanded the social media giant remove certain tweets and accounts, often with legal threats.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s government deputy minister for information technology, denied Dorsey’s assertions, saying he was trying to “brush out that very dubious period of Twitter’s history.”
