Elon Musk's Twitter to challenge Karnataka HC order; says: We will appeal ...

Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) has announced that it will appeal a Karnataka High Court order which upheld the Indian government’s directives to remove some online content. The company said that this court order is aimed at defending the principle of free expression. Last week, Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition by Elon Musk's X Corp (formerly Twitter) against government orders to take down specific user content. The court ruled that American free speech standards cannot be applied to Indian constitutional law, emphasising that no global platform can evade the nation's laws. The Karnataka High Court recently dismissed Elon Musk X’s petition challenging the order of the Indian government to block some accounts and posts under the Information Technology Act. The court stated that social media is a "modern amphitheatre of ideas" but cannot be left to "anarchic freedom." It held that Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees free speech and expression, is subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2).Along with this, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the company for non-compliance with earlier directives.As reported by Reuters, in a statement X said; “X respects and complies with Indian law... We respectfully disagree with the view that we have no right to raise these concerns because of our incorporation abroad..."Elon Musk’s social media platform mentioned that the takedown requests made by the Indian government lacked transparency and were also broad in nature. The company also claimed that the orders of the Indian government undermined the right to free speech of the users. The dispute goes back to 2021, when the Indian authorities ordered Twitter (now X) to block several accounts and posts related to farmers’ protests and other politically sensitive issues. The Indian government also said that the content threatened the public order and national security. Initially X resisted, citing global free speech standard, but later complied under protest to avoid losing its legal immunity in India. The company then went on to challenge the orders in the court leading to the verdict of Karnataka High Court ruling.