Twitter is suing the Indian government. Yeah, you heard that right. The lawsuit, filed by Twitter in the Karnataka High Court yesterday, aims to challenge the government’s content takedown orders on the platform.
As Reuters first reported, the lawsuit alleges abuse of power by government officials to remove content shared on Twitter. According to the report, the posts removed over the past year include sensitive topics such as tweets seeking an independent Sikh state, alleged misinformation about farmer protests, and tweets that critiqued the way the government handled the pandemic.
Twitter is not the only tech platform to sue the Indian government over the past couple of years. Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp filed a complaint with the Delhi High Court in May last year over the new media rules. However, that case is still pending. Going by history, it could take a while before we hear a verdict on Twitter’s new lawsuit too.
