SG creates fake ‘SC of Karnataka' X account to flag misuse, defends blocking orders in HC
Making a submission before Justice M Nagaprasanna, while hearing a petition filed by X Corp questioning the series of blocking orders issued by the Union government, Mehta drew the attention of the court by giving an illustration to defend the blocking orders.
Mehta explained that they opened an account in the name of 'Supreme Court of Karnataka' on X, and it is a verified account. 'Now we can post anything on it, and viewers can say that the Supreme Court of Karnataka said it. The creator of the account remains anonymous,' he submitted.
However, senior counsel KG Raghavan, representing X Corp, took serious exception to the demonstration of a fake account and also the contention of the Solicitor General, who in turn contended that the fake account was created only to demonstrate the element of misuse and was not used.
Interfering at this stage, the court said a fake account is only an illustration that creating such accounts on the intermediary is easy, and it will not prejudice the case of X. Later, Raghavan informed the court that the said fake account has been blocked by X.
X Corp moved the Karnataka High Court, seeking to declare that Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) does not confer powers on the Union government to issue information-blocking orders under the IT Act.
It prayed to the high court to declare that information-blocking orders can only be issued under Section 69A of the IT Act, read with the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 (Blocking Rules).
X Corp also requested the court to restrain the Union government from taking coercive or prejudicial action against them for not joining the censorship portal Sahyog, as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has attempted delegation of power that it itself does not have, and should be struck down.
Further hearing was adjourned to July 25.
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