Twitter's Case: A Cautionary Tale For Social Media Companies

In the case of X Corp. v. Union of India (W.P. No. 13710 of 2022), the Karnataka High Court recently dismissed a writ petition filed by Twitter, Inc. ("Twitter") against certain blocking orders issued to Twitter by the Indian government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (the "IT Act"). In so doing, the court held that Twitter, despite being a non-citizen entity, could rely on Article 14 of India's Constitution (Right to Equality) and, on this basis, it had the locus standi to file a writ. Importantly, the court upheld the government's power to have entire Twitter accounts blocked under Section 69A of the IT Act, as compared to specific tweets only, and ruled that the law did not require reasons for blocking to be communicated, although that would be preferable.