Karnataka HC puts stay on its earlier order of imposing ₹50 lakh cost on X Corp

Karnataka High Court has put a stay on its order of imposing ₹50 lakh cost on X Corp (formerly Twitter) for not complying with IT Ministry orders. A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka stayed a single judge bench order that had imposed a cost of ₹50 lakh on X Corp for not complying with IT Ministry orders.    

“As such, on deposit of ₹25 lakh, the order of the single judge bench is stayed until the next hearing date,” the high court said. 

The court has reportedly made it clear that asking the company to deposit the amount should not be treated as an acceptance by the court that Twitter has a case. 

A single-judge bench had earlier passed an order that held that Twitter did not comply with the IT ministry’s orders for over a year and then approached the court against the orders. The government’s orders sought the blocking of 1,474 accounts, 175 tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag on Twitter. 

 On Thursday too, the high court noted that Twitter had done nothing about the orders until the government sought to impose a fine, and only then approached the high court. 

“The court also noted that it was the company’s responsibility and not the government’s responsibility to show whether or not it had complied with the take down and blocking orders. Court also noted that it should have some regard for the law of the land,” it was reported. 

The lawyer for X Corp said there was a communication gap as the government’s blocking order had come during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company had followed the government’s orders. 

The case will next be heard on August 24.