Centre Gets More Time To Amend Appeal Filed Against X

In the latest development in the ongoing legal tussle between India and the social media platform X (erstwhile Twitter), the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (September 27) gave more time to the Government of India to decide on certain aspects of the appeal filed by X against the order to block specific posts and accounts.

The social media platform challenged the ruling of a single-judge bench in June, which dismissed its plea against the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) directives, imposing an INR 50 Lakh fine for not following the orders.

In a previous hearing, the social media platform said that it submitted INR 25 Lakh in compliance with the order issued by the single-judge bench earlier this month.

Meanwhile, X submitted before the division bench of Justices G Narendar and Vijaykumar Patil that the issue was not the penalty but clarification on whether the platform has to obey government orders regarding the blocking of posts.

In the hearing before, the Karnataka HC had asked the Centre if it would rethink its blocking orders, adding that if the government passes reasonable orders in the case, it would be able to avoid unnecessary publicity.

To consider the same, the Centre has been awarded time until October 4. 

The case goes back to July 2022 when the erstwhile Twitter filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking to dismiss content takedown orders issued by MeitY under Section 69A of the IT Act.

X, which has recently been labelled a ‘habitual non-compliant platform’ by the Indian government, will see its interactions intensify with the Indian government over the coming months. Earlier this month, the Centre told the Karnataka HC that the platform did not adhere to its content takedown orders for years, thereby undermining the government’s role.

To be sure, X is required to report its actions under the new IT rules in a monthly report. Per its August 2023 report, the social media platform suspended nearly 1.3 Mn accounts proactively for suspicious activity, including child abuse and terrorism.

In the backdrop of this controversy, the head of policy of the Elon Musk-led social media platform in India and South Asia, Samiran Gupta, resigned from his post. He was also the head of X’s global government affairs for India and South Asia.