Centre creates fake ‘Supreme Court of Karnataka' account to demonstrate ease of social media misuse
The account, which was verified by X, was created solely for demonstrative purposes, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta clarified to the court while showing the account on a mobile phone. 'We have opened one account in the name of 'Supreme Court of Karnataka'... and X has also verified the account. Now I can post anything in that account and lakhs and lakhs of people who view that will say that Supreme Court of Karnataka has said this... and I can remain anonymous,' Mr. Mehta said.
The submission was made before Justice M. Nagaprasanna during the hearing of a petition filed by X Corp. (formerly Twitter Inc.), which has challenged blocking orders issued by Central and State authorities under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act. The platform has alleged that these actions bypass safeguards laid down by the Supreme Court.
'Censorship portal'
The petition also raises objections to the Central government's new 'Sahyog' portal, describing it as a 'censorship portal' that enables government agencies to issue blocking orders using a pre-approved template.
Senior advocate K.G. Raghavan, appearing for X, objected to the presentation of the fake account without placing any related material formally on record. The judge, however, noted that the Centre was attempting to show how easily such accounts can be created on intermediary platforms.
Mr. Mehta further clarified that the account had not been used and remained inactive, as it would have entered the public domain otherwise. He added that the intention was only to demonstrate the potential misuse of any social media platform, not just X.
'Account suspended'
Following the conclusion of Mr. Mehta's arguments defending the Sahyog portal and the blocking orders, Mr. Raghavan informed the court that the fake account titled 'Supreme Court of Karnataka' had now been suspended. He reiterated that X is 'a responsible business house'.
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