Writ petitions against private entities are not maintainable unless they perform public functions, which qualifies for judicial scrutiny under constitutional grounds.

JUDGMENT

SANJEEV NARULA, J. (Oral):

1. Mr. Sanchit Gupta, a professional with degrees in both Technology and Law, is engaged as an independent IT Consultant in the pharmaceutical sector. He has filed the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 19501, against Respondent No. 2, X Corp. (formerly known as Twitter Inc.), following suspension of his social media account, alleging a breach of the principles of natural justice, equity and fairness.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND:

2. Mr. Gupta created an account on X platform with the username ‘@sanchit gs’ and subsequently subscribed to various premium services offered by the Respondent, including the X Premium and X Premium Plus1 “the Constitution” Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 10030/2024 Page 1 of 9 services. In August 2023, Mr. Gupta was informed via email by X Corp that he was eligible to receive a portion of the advertising revenue generated through his account. He began receiving payments as part of this revenue- sharing arrangement since September 2023 till his account was suspended. However, in June 2024, Mr. Gupta observed a reduction in the reach of his account and a stagnation in follower growth, raising concerns about potential shadow banning or other restrictive actions being applied to his account without his knowledge. The situation escalated on 15th July 2024, when Mr. Gupta received notification from X Corp that his account’s monetization was paused due to suspension of his account, with no prior show cause notice, intimation or warning. This action by X Corp prompted Mr. Gupta to file multiple appeals to restore his account, none of which according to him have been acknowledged or resolved by the platform.

3. The Petition arrays two respondents: Respondent No. 1, the Union of India, represented herein through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and Respondent No. 2, X Corp., previously known as Twitter, Inc - a social media platform and micro-blogging service that distributes short messages.

4. The grievance of the Petitioner is spelt out in the petition as follows:

“d. Petitioner created his Account on the social media platform of Respondent No. 2 i.e., X Corp. (Formerly known as TWITTER INC.) with username '@sanchit_gs' in May 2021.

e. The Petitioner received an E-Mail on 12.08.2023 from the Respondent No. 2 that he was eligible to receive a portion of ads revenue generated by Respondent No. 2 on his account. Thereafter, he started receiving money as part of the monetization scheme of Respondent No. 2 from September 2023 regularly till the Account was suspended.

f. That the Petitioner had purchased X Premium Subscription from Respondent No. 2 on 18.01.2023 for the first time which was valid for one year. The Petitioner further renewed his X Premium Subscription from Respondent No. 2 which was valid for one year and paid $89.04 on Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 10030/2024 Page 2 of 918.01.2024. The Petitioner further upgraded to X Premium Plus by further paying $69.53 to Respondent No. 2 on 08.042024.

g. The Petitioner noticed that his reach on his account had been limited and there was no increase in his number of followers in June 2024. h. The Petitioner received an E-mail dated 15th July, 2024 from Respondent No. 2 that his monetization has been paused due to the suspension of his account. It is pertinent to mention here that no show cause, intimation or notice was given to the Petitioner regarding the suspension of his account, in clear violation of the principles of natural justice.

i. The Petitioner filed four appeals on 15.07.2024 for restoration of his account on the platform of Respondent No. 2 but the same has not been either acknowledged or resolved till the filing of this p