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A bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao of the Delhi High Court today issued notice on a petition by "Wokeflix", an unregistered social media group engaged in posting political satires, against the permanent suspension of its Twitter handle and temporary suspension of Instagram handle.
A platform with a reach of more than 67,000 followers on Instagram, 29,000 on Twitter, 5,000 on Facebook and around 2000 subscribers on Telegram, Wokeflix has moved Court against for the quashing of Meta Inc's decisions removing its access to a link sticker, removing one its stories, and disabling its handle for 30 days on Instagram; and Twitter's decision permanently suspending its handle.
Wokeflix has stated that content posted by it is focussed on political satire and funny memes, and challenged both the social media giants' decisions on the premise that its handle is primarily "viewed/ followed by the general public for its expression/ views and free speech pertaining to different topics and issues."
Citing that while many incidents of serious deviations of misreporting remain unchecked, Wokeflix has argued that that the suspension of its accounts are "absolutely arbitrary".
In support of this contention, Wokeflix has cited that while the former US President Donald Trump’s account was suspended in light of an attack on January 6, 2021 on the White House on the basis of a widely circulated video of Trump, "the fact remains that the inciting video was being circulated by various accounts misquoting and misinterpreting him."
They have further contended that "in the absence of proper check and balances" similar situations may arise in India as well - 'where a number of hate speeches go unreported.'
Wokeflix has therefore argued that the "social media platforms are not capable of making the correct judgments with respect to posts that might incite violence or go against the rules of the nation they are being circulated in."
Basis this, it has stated that social media giants "should not be allowed to take decisions without consulting with experts as to which account is to be disabled or suspended."
Cause Title: Wokeflix through Megha Choubey vs Union of India & Anr.
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