An Indian court has dismissed a case filed by Elon Musk's X against a government portal that it had argued was being used to arbitrarily censor content on the platform.
A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court ruled that X's challenge against the Sahyog portal, run by the federal home ministry, was without merit. The full order has not been made public yet.
X has not indicated whether it will appeal against the order.
Wednesday's dismissal marks the second case in just over two years that X has lost while challenging the Indian government's powers to block or take down content, alarming free speech and digital rights experts. X is estimated to have around 25 million users in India.
Technology policy researcher Prateek Waghre noted the order was worrisome and legitimised the act of various government agencies directly sending takedown orders to social media companies. He added the full import of the order could only be understood once the judgement is published.
The platform's case against Sahyog, initiated in March, described it as a tool for the government to automate sending notices to content intermediaries like X and Facebook. While other American tech giants joined the Sahyog initiative, X opted out, labeling it a censorship portal for enabling officials to bypass rules allowing due process for content review.
This tactic allegedly authorized numerous government officials, including local police, to "arbitrarily" issue orders for content removal. A lawyer for X previously stated that this allowed every Tom, Dick, and Harry officer to make such decisions.
Failure to comply with takedown orders within 36 hours risks losing intermediary status and the associated safe harbor protection from liability for hosted content.
The Indian government defended Sahyog, claiming it was necessary to address increasing unlawful and harmful content on social media. The government contended that the portal was not for issuing blocking orders but merely informing intermediaries of the unlawful content hosted on their platforms.
In dismissing X's challenge, the judge underscored the necessity for regulation, stating social media cannot exist in a state of anarchic freedom and defining the Sahyog portal as a public good.
While X complies with takedown orders in the US, the court suggested it refuses to follow similar mandates in India. This decision reflects a broader trend where digital rights advocates express concerns over rising censorship and government control over social media platforms.
