An Indian court has rejected a case filed by Elon Musk’s platform X. The company had challenged a government portal it argued enabled arbitrary censorship.
A single judge of the Karnataka High Court ruled that X’s petition against the Sahyog portal was “without merit”. The full judgement has not yet been made public.
X has not announced whether it will appeal the ruling.
Second legal setback in India
This ruling marks the second time in just over two years that X has lost a case in India. The company had already faced defeat in a separate challenge over government content blocking powers. Experts now fear an erosion of free expression in the country.
X has about 25 million users in India. Technology policy researcher Prateek Waghre described the ruling as “worrisome”. He said it legitimised government agencies sending direct takedown orders to platforms. He warned that the true consequences would only become clear once the judgement is published.
X’s lawyers declined to comment. India’s home and information technology ministries have not issued statements.
X challenges the Sahyog system
The platform filed its case in March against Sahyog, which is run by the federal home ministry. The portal automates the process of sending government notices to social media intermediaries like X and Facebook.
While Google, Amazon and Meta joined Sahyog after its launch last year, X refused. In its petition, the company called Sahyog a “censorship portal”. It argued the system bypassed safeguards that required hearings and review.
X claimed Sahyog enabled “countless” officials, including thousands of local police officers, to order takedowns without oversight. In July, an X lawyer described the situation as allowing “every Tom, Dick, and Harry officer” to demand removals. Government lawyers objected to the comment.
Intermediaries that fail to comply with takedown orders within 36 hours risk losing safe harbour protections. Without these protections, companies could be held legally responsible for content posted by users.
Government says regulation is essential
The Indian government defended Sahyog as a necessary response to growing volumes of harmful online content. Officials argued the portal simply notifies platforms about unlawful material, rather than issuing blocking orders directly.
On Wednesday, the Karnataka judge dismissed X’s case. He said social media could not exist in “a state of anarchic freedom”. He insisted regulation was necessary and described Sahyog as a “public good”.
The judge also pointed out that X follows takedown orders in the United States. He questioned why the company refused to follow similar rules in India.
Censorship concerns grow globally
The court referred to the Take It Down Act, passed in the US earlier this year. The law criminalises the posting of intimate images without consent and requires platforms to remove such material within 48 hours. X has supported the legislation.
When X filed its petition, digital rights experts warned that Sahyog had already sparked “a wholesale increase in censorship”. Court documents revealed government agencies had ordered removals of varied content. Examples included videos of a deadly crush in Delhi and posts said to damage the reputation of senior political leaders.
X continues its legal battle
X remains the only social media company challenging India’s content blocking systems. Legal experts often describe these systems as opaque and arbitrary.
In 2022, before Musk acquired X, the company contested several takedown orders. The following year, the Karnataka High Court ruled against the platform and fined it 5 million rupees for delayed compliance.
That appeal is still pending. With this latest ruling, X faces yet another major setback in its battle over free speech in India.
