An Indian court has thrown out a case filed by Elon Musk’s platform X. The company argued that a government portal allowed officials to censor content without oversight.
A single judge of the Karnataka High Court said X’s challenge to the Sahyog portal was “without merit”. The full judgement has not yet been released.
X has not confirmed if it will appeal the ruling.
Another setback for the platform
This decision marks the second defeat for X in India in just over two years. The platform had earlier lost a case against government content blocking powers. Experts now fear a further narrowing of free speech online.
X has about 25 million users in India. Technology policy researcher Prateek Waghre called the ruling “worrisome”. He said it legitimised government agencies issuing direct takedown orders to companies. He warned the full consequences would only be clear once the complete judgement is published.
X’s lawyers declined to comment. India’s home and information technology ministries have not yet responded.
X refuses to join Sahyog
The company filed its case in March against Sahyog, run by the federal home ministry. The portal automates takedown notices sent to intermediaries such as X and Facebook.
Google, Amazon and Meta joined Sahyog after its launch last year. X refused. In its petition, it described the portal as a “censorship portal”. It argued the system bypassed safeguards such as hearings and reviews.
X claimed the system gave “countless” officials, including thousands of police officers, unchecked power to order removals. In July, one of its lawyers said it allowed “every Tom, Dick, and Harry officer” to issue takedowns. Government lawyers objected to the statement.
If intermediaries do not comply within 36 hours, they risk losing safe harbour protections. Without them, companies can be held responsible for user content.
Government defends stronger oversight
The Indian government said Sahyog was needed to deal with rising amounts of harmful material online. Officials insisted the portal only notified companies about unlawful content and did not block posts directly.
On Wednesday, the Karnataka judge dismissed X’s petition. He said social media could not exist in “a state of anarchic freedom”. He called regulation essential and described Sahyog as a “public good”.
The judge also noted that X complies with takedown laws in the United States. He questioned why the platform resisted similar rules in India.
International pressure on platforms
The court cited the Take It Down Act passed in the US earlier this year. The law criminalises sharing intimate images without consent and requires platforms to remove them within 48 hours. X has supported the measure.
When X filed its case, digital rights experts warned that Sahyog had already caused “a wholesale increase in censorship”. Court documents showed officials had ordered removals of varied content. This included videos of a deadly crowd crush in Delhi and posts said to harm the reputation of senior politicians.
Years of legal disputes
X is the only major platform directly challenging India’s blocking framework. Legal experts often describe the system as opaque and arbitrary.
In 2022, before Elon Musk bought the company, X contested multiple takedown orders. The next year, the Karnataka High Court ruled against it and imposed a fine of 5 million rupees for delayed compliance.
That appeal is still pending. With this latest ruling, X faces yet another major obstacle in its long-running fight over free expression in India.
