Bengaluru/New Delhi, July 19 -- Solicitor general Tushar Mehta created a fake X account named "Supreme Court of Karnataka" and presented it to the Karnataka high court on Friday to demonstrate online misinformation risks - only to have the platform suspend the fictional handle by the time the hearing ended.

Mehta handed his mobile phone to justice M Nagaprasanna to show the fake account, complete with the court's photograph and official-looking handle, arguing it proved how easily false content could spread online.

"We have opened one account in the name of Supreme Court of Karnataka. And Twitter (X) has opened that account. And it is a verified account by Twitter (X)... now I can post anything in that, and lakhs and lakhs of people who...