Twitter has requested the Karnataka High Court to reverse a few orders from the Indian government to take down content. The US micro-blogging site argued that the orders are arbitrary and show “disproportionate use of power,” sources familiar with the filings said.

A lawyer and Information Technology (IT) Ministry official — aware of the development — told ThePrint a petition challenging the takedown requests has been filed.

A government official, however, said the IT ministry was yet to receive a copy of the petition.

Also Read | Elon Musk breaks Twitter silence: Pope Francis meeting, Technoblade death and more

Two Union Ministers reacted to Twitter’s move.

“Social media accountability has become a valid question globally. It’s important to hold it accountable, which will first start with self-regulation, then industry regulation, followed by govt regulation,” said IT Minister Ashwini Vaishaw.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the junior IT minister, said: “All including foreign Internet intermediaries or platforms have the right to court and a judicial review. But equally ALL intermediary/platforms operating here, have unambiguous obligation to comply with our laws n rules.”

Twitter in its case says that multiple accounts and content included in the blocking orders are overboard and arbitrary, they fail to provide notice to the content originators and are disproportionate in several cases. 

Also Read | ‘Truth’ bombs: Donald Trump’s social media firm subpoened by feds, stock regulators

“Several could pertain to political content that is posted by official handles of political parties,” sources close to the filing said, according to NDTV. The sources also said that blocking of such information is a violation of users’ freedom of speech.

Twitter has been asked by the Center over the past year to act on content that includes accounts supportive of an independent Sikh state, posts alleged to have spread misinformation about farmers protests and tweets critical of the government’s handling of the  COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported.

Also Read | Is Elon Musk ready to walk away from Twitter deal?

In its filing, Twitter said some of the orders had not even given notice to the users who posted the content. Reuters added that some content that were in the list to be blocked was “related to political content posted by official handles of political parties, the blocking of which amount to violation of freedom of speech.”