X Corp, owned by Elon Musk, has voiced strong concerns regarding a recent order from the High Court of Karnataka in India, which allows millions of police officers to issue arbitrary content takedown orders through a secretive online portal called "Sahyog". The company declared it will appeal the order to defend free expression.
X Corp argues that this new system lacks a legal basis, bypasses Section 69A of the IT Act, violates Supreme Court rulings, and infringes upon Indian citizens' constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression. The "Sahyog" portal enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of "illegality," without judicial review or due process for speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance. X equates the government's mechanisms with censorship.
The High Court of Karnataka rejected X Corp's petition challenging orders issued by central and state authorities under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act to remove certain information from X. The court also dismissed X Corp's claim that orders issued under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act are contrary to the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shreya Singhal case, in which the top court upheld the validity of Section 69A (power to issue orders to block information) of the IT Act with multiple procedural safeguards.
X Corp contends that the Sahyog portal violates Section 69A of India's IT Act, which requires oversight and transparency before content removal. The platform argues that allowing police to flag posts for instant removal without checks risks misuse and puts platforms at legal risk. X cites a recent Bombay High Court decision that struck down a similar system as unconstitutional, reinforcing their call for proper legal process.
The Sahyog portal, launched in October 2024 by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs through the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), serves as a centralized platform for government agencies to issue content takedown notices to social media platforms. It operates under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, allowing authorized officials to directly request the removal of content deemed unlawful. Since its inception, the portal has facilitated 130 content takedown notices to major platforms between October 2024 and April 2025.
The Karnataka High Court stated that Indian constitutional law prevails over American free speech standards and that foreign corporations cannot claim fundamental rights in India. The court emphasized the necessity of regulating social media, particularly to protect women's dignity, and stated that social media is "a modern amphitheater of ideas" that cannot be left to "anarchic freedom". The court also noted that unregulated speech under the guise of liberty becomes a license to lawlessness. Justice Nagaprasanna stated that a petitioner seeking sanctuary under Article 19 of the Constitution must be a citizen of the nation.
