New Delhi: In written submissions to the Delhi high court, X (formerly Twitter) has said that global orders to block posts stifle public debates and legitimise practices of authoritarian governments.
The submissions were made in the context of the 2019 court order related to a petition by self-styled godman and yoga guru Ramdev to globally block online posts with excerpts from the biographical book ‘Godman to Tycoon –The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev’.
“If courts in different countries can issue global blocking orders based on their local laws, it would result in a situation where the country with the most restrictive laws would dictate what content is available on the internet. This would lead to a situation where the internet displays only content that is allowed by the most restrictive country in the world,” said X in the written submissions to the court, reported Bar and Bench.
“This cannot be allowed to happen. Such global takedowns also set a dangerous precedent that could legitimise practices of authoritarian governments, which do not fully value the rights to freedom of speech and access to information,” said in the written submission.
The 2019 order was passed after Ramdev filed a suit accusing the authors of ‘Godman to Tycoon –The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev’ for publishing defamatory content against him in their book. Ramdev succeeded in getting an injunction in September 2018, when Justice Anu Malhotra restrained Juggernaut Books from publishing, distributing, and selling the book to the extent that it made “unfounded claims” against the him.
Thereafter, the court had also said such content should be blocked globally, instead of only geo-blocking it in India. The court had said that such content on Ramdev must be blocked globally so that it is not accessible from India even through VPN or other such mechanisms.