Karnataka HC Orders Suspended 'The Liver Doc' X Account to Be Restored After Hiding 9 Tweets

New Delhi: The Karnataka high court has ordered X corporation (formerly Twitter) to restore hepatologist Dr Cyraic Abby Philips's X account (@theliverdr or ‘The Liver Doc’) be restored subject to an undertaking from him that he will hide allegedly offending tweets against Himalaya Wellness Corporation.

X withheld his account in India on September 28 after a Bengaluru civil court passed an ex-parte, interim injunction order against him in a case filed by Himalaya, which had claimed the doctor made defamatory statements against company products like Liv-52.

"Learned counsel for petitioner (says he will take) steps to hide any (offending) tweets with reference to Respondent 1-plaintiff (Himalaya Wellness) and its products. Said undertaking is placed on record and order on IA 2 (to suspend account) is modified to that extent," Justice S.G. Pandit said, according to Bar and Bench.

In his petition filed before the high court, Philips said he is a hepatologist and he is only stating the truth in the public interest. "This sort of disproportionate, draconian order, could have never been issued by the trial court ... Could my entire account have been suspended ex parte? And in the plaint they say they were aware of my statements since 2019," Philips said, challenging the lower court order.

Philips' counsel, Aditya Sondhi, said the nine offending tweets would be hidden as ordered. "The nine offending tweets may be hidden, I leave it to your Lordship ... It is well settled, that such blanket orders cannot be passed, there are Supreme Court judgments," Sondhi said.

However, Philips' counsel clarified that the petitioner is not in any way conceding that the tweets are defamatory. He added that the tweets can be hidden for the time being while the writ petition is being decided. It will come up before the high court in the second week of November.

Before his X account was suspended, Philips countered practices in alternate medicine systems like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy that he said caused liver damage in patients.

Since his account was suspended, the doctor has received a lot of support from doctors, patients and many others on social media. The Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare (ADEH), a pan-India network of doctors, issued a press statement on October 3 in support.

According to Himalaya, Philips has been “posting derogatory statements against the products of the company due to which it has lost substantial business”. It has also accused Philips of working at the behest of companies like Cipla and Alchem – an allegation that Philips said was preposterous.

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