Twitter Appeals Karnataka HC Ruling, Says It Violates Freedom Of Speech

X Corp (formerly Twitter) dismissed the Karnataka High Court's plea challenging the blocking orders issued to it by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It further stated that the social media platform was not compliant with government orders to remove content.

Earlier in July 2022, X sought to overturn government orders to remove some content from its platform. A court in June 2023 quashed that request and imposed a fine of 5 million rupees.

X in a 96-page filing has clearly appealed that the government "will be emboldened to issue more blocking orders" that violate the law. The filing, which was dated August 1 but has not been posted publicly, was submitted by local law firm Poovayya & Co at the Karnataka High Court.

X said in the filing there must be "discernible parameters" on what mandates the blocking of an entire account instead of a specific post. Otherwise the government's "power to censor future content is untrammeled".

Court hearings are typically held within several days after a filing is submitted.

Meanwhile, the Tesla chief executive has planned to set up a factory in India making electric vehicles and is seeking market entry for his satellite broadband firm SpaceX.

The company in previous years has been asked by Indian authorities to act on content including accounts deemed supportive of an independent Sikh state, posts alleged to have spread misinformation about protests by farmers, and tweets critical of the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.