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Indian High Court Dismisses Twitter’s Appeal Against Fine

By  |  July 2, 2023

The Karnataka High Court in India has dismissed Twitter’s plea against the federal government’s orders to block tweets and accounts. Additionally, a fine of 5 million rupees ($60,943.65) has been imposed on Twitter, as reported by a lawyer for the company to Reuters.

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    The decision was made following allegations by Twitter’s ex-CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, who claimed that India had threatened to shut down the social media platform unless it restricted accounts critical of the handling of farmer protests in 2021. The Prime Minister’s government has denied these allegations.

    According to India’s Deputy Minister for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the court ruled on Friday that Twitter had received notices but did not comply.

    Read more: Indian Panel To Summon Google, Twitter, Amazon To Talk Competitive Conduct

    The U.S.-based firm requested the court to review government orders to remove content from the social media platform.

    This action was taken in response to an official directive to address the content, which included accounts advocating for an independent Sikh state, posts that were accused of spreading misinformation about farmer protests, and tweets that criticized the government’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic.