X to challenge Karnataka HC order upholding Sahyog portal validity

Elon Musk's X will challenge the Karnataka High Court verdict that upheld the Centre's Sahyog portal, which allows online content takedowns without judicial review

Elon Musk-owned X on Monday said it would challenge the Karnataka High Court’s decision upholding the central government’s right to take down online content through the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Sahyog Portal.

 

In a post on X, the Global Government Affairs team of the social media platform said that the Sahyog portal “enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of 'illegality,' without judicial review or due process for the speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance”.

 

Last week, the Karnataka High Court ruled that the Centre’s Sahyog portal was essential for the government to maintain law and order.

 

 

“The Sahyog Portal stands as a beacon of cooperation between the citizen and the intermediary, a mechanism through which the state endeavours to combat the growing menace of cybercrime,” Justice M Nagaprassana had said in his judgment.

 

The single-judge bench had further said that social media could not be left in “anarchic freedom”.

 

“No social media platform can treat the Indian marketplace as a mere playground. In light of the observations, the content of social media needs to be regulated,” the court had then noted in its judgment. 

 

In its post on Monday, the Global Government Affairs team said that while it would respect the judgment and comply with Indian laws, the court ruling failed to address “the core constitutional issues” that had been raised by X.

 

“We respectfully disagree with the view that we have no right to raise these concerns because of our incorporation abroad—X contributes significantly to public discourse in India and the voice of our users is at the heart of our platform. We will appeal this order to defend free expression,” the post on X said.

 

This is not the first time that X has had a run-in with government officials. In 2021, after X (then Twitter) refused to take down content that the government had flagged as inflammatory, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had threatened to take legal action against the entity, which included removing the safe harbour protection that the intermediary had, and arresting top offcials of the company in India, including then India sales head Manish Maheshwari.

 

The notices were withdrawn after the social media intermediary took down the posts and challenged the take-down notices issued in the Karnataka High Court. After Musk's takeover of the platform, these legal challenges were withdrawn.