K’taka HC notice to Centre’s blocking orders to Twitter

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday ordered notice to the Union Government on a petition filed by Twitter Inc challenging the blocking orders issued to take down certain content under section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Justice Krishna S Dixit posted further hearing on the petition to August 25.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that the blocking orders without assigning any reasons would result in closing down the business of Twitter.

“We are answerable to the account holders. No intimation given to account holders stating that they have objectionable content. Neither we (Twitter) were told nor the account holders informed about the reasons for the blocking.