Twitter has sued the Indian government challenging a recent order from the government to remove content and block several accounts. The suit was filed in the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore.
Twitter said in the law suit, “Some block orders pertain to political content that is posted by official handles of political parties. Blocking of such information is a violation of the freedom of speech guaranteed to users of the platform.
Further, the content at issue does not have any apparent proximate relationship to the grounds under Section 69A.”
The company also alleged that if they didn’t comply with the orders, government threatened criminal proceedings against its chief compliance officer in India.
The new IT rules required any large social media firm to appoint chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer in the country to address local concerns.
The IT act allows the government to block content in the interest of national security, among other reasons.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, said at a news conference, “It is everyone’s responsibility to abide by the laws passed by the country’s Parliament.”
