Twitter to place Centre's 'blocking orders' before Karnataka HC in sealed covers

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday allowed social media giant Twitter Inc to place the various 'blocking orders' issued by the Union government before it in sealed envelopes.

Justice Krishna S Dixit, who is hearing the case, also directed the microblogging company that the same has to be shared with the advocate for the Union government.

The Centre's advocate has requested the court that the proceedings of this case be held in-camera. This will mean a private hearing in which parties not part of the proceedings will not be allowed.

The court said the request will be considered.

Twitter Inc has approached the High Court against 10 different 'blocking orders', issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

These orders are variously dated between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022. They include orders to block accounts, tweets, URLs and hashtags.

On Tuesday, the single judge bench was informed by Twitter's counsel Mukul Rohatgi that MeitY has failed to record reasons for ordering the closure of accounts.

The procedures and safeguards of the IT Rules 2009 require the reasons to be recorded and since Twitter will be answerable to the account holders, "if this continues, my whole business will close", Rohatgi submitted.

After issuing notice to the Centre in the petition, the hearing of the case was adjourned to August 12.