Twitter Tells Telangana HC It Is Not Amenable To Writ Jurisdiction In India, Seeks Safe Harbour Protection Under IT Act

Micro-blogging platform Twitter Inc. has disputed the application of writ jurisdiction over it, in a plea before the Telangana High Court against trending of “communal hashtags” on the platform.The social media company has stated that it is incorporated under the laws of the United States of America and is not a ‘State’ within the meaning of Article 12 of the Indian Constitution. Further, it is not performing a public function and is not amenable to writ jurisdiction. It submitted, “the Answering Respondent does not perform any ‘public function’, contrary to what is alleged in the Petition. The nature of relationship between the Answering Respondent and the users on its Platform is contractual in nature. Thus, even if the Answering Respondent provides a service to the public in a wider sense, there is no public law element involved in the enforcement of a private contract of service.”