Karnataka HC ruling on Twitter to turn tables for online platforms: Experts

Judicial review only after govt order is complied with and content taken down; but since much of the content has a shelf life, aggrieved users' 'free speech' may be impacted

Karnataka High Court’s ruling that dismissed Twitter’s appeal against government-issued content blocking orders is likely to change the equation between the government and internet intermediaries on content takedown issues, strengthening the grounds for the state, say experts.

“Intermediaries will need to comply with all content-blocking orders issued by the government and judicial review will only be an option after they takedown the content. However, every content has a shelf life. For instance, a short video may lose relevance after 12 days of being made. So platforms will virtually no longer be able to stand for the ‘free speech’ of users