Twitter has been fined 5 million rupees ($60,943.65) by the Karnataka High Court in India for challenging the federal government’s orders to block tweets and accounts.
The court dismissed Twitter’s plea as devoid of merit and said the social media giant had not given any reason for not complying with the blocking orders, which were issued under the IT Act.
Twitter had argued that the blocking orders violated the rights of its users and demonstrated excessive use of power by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY).
The court referred to the laws in the US, Australia and Canada, and Supreme Court judgments on the cascading effects of the tweets. It also said that Twitter was not a farmer or ordinary person but a billion-dollar company.
The court ordered Twitter to pay the fine within 45 days to the Karnataka Legal Services Authority, or face an additional penalty of Rs 5,000 for every day of delay.