The Delhi high court on Monday asked microblogging platform Twitter why it could not voluntarily take action against an account that allegedly published objectionable content about a Hindu Goddess, while it could do the same against former United States President Donald Trump. The high court said Twitter was not bothered about sensitivities of people from “other regions” and ethnicities.
A bench, comprising active chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Navin Chawla, was hearing a petition against posts put up on the platform by a user named ‘AtheistRepublic’ on ‘Maa Kaali’. It directed Twitter to explain how it undertook the blocking of accounts while noting that there were instances of certain individuals being blocked on the platform and remarked that had such an incident happened in relation to another religion, the social media platform would have been more careful and sensitive.
According to a LiveLaw report, when the US-based company said that users posted all kinds of content on the platform and could not block all their accounts in the absence of a court, the court said, “If this is the logic, then why have you blocked Mr. Trump?”
“It is ultimately boiling down to this that people you feel sensitive about… the content, you will block them. You are not bothered about sensitivities of other people in other regions of the world, of ethnicities. We dare say that if these kinds of things were done in relation to another religion, you would be much more careful, more sensitive,” the bench said.
The court added that prima facie, Twitter’s stand that it cannot block accounts was “not entirely correct”.
