Twitter sues Indian government over content removal order

Twitter is suing the Indian government. Yes, that’s right. The suit, filed by Twitter in the Karnataka High Court yesterday, aims to challenge the government’s order to remove content on the platform.

Twitter sues Indian government

As first reported by Reuters , the lawsuit alleges that government officials abused their power to remove content shared on Twitter . According to the report, posts deleted in the past year included sensitive tweets, including tweets calling for an independent Sikh nation, suspected misinformation about the farmer protests, and tweets criticizing the government’s handling of the pandemic. It is said to include topics such as:

The post also reportedly contains political content shared by the official handle of a political party . “The blocking of such information is a violation of the freedom of speech guaranteed to citizen users of the platform. Moreover, the content in question has no obvious nexus with the grounds under Article 69A.” Twitter said in the lawsuit.

In response to the lawsuit, India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said companies should abide by Indian laws. “Any company, in any sector, should abide by Indian laws,” IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnau said, as reported by ANI.

Meanwhile, IT Secretary Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted : “In India, all companies, including foreign internet intermediaries/platforms, have the right to court and judicial review. But equally, all intermediaries/platforms operating here are entitled to We have a clear obligation to comply with the laws and rules of

Twitter is not the only technology platform to sue the Indian government in the past few years. Mehta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp filed a complaint in the Delhi High Court in May last year over the new media rules. However, that case is still pending. History suggests that it may take some time before a new Twitter lawsuit is decided.