Musk’s X sues India over alleged censorship – me…

The platform alleges the government is bypassing Supreme Court rules and creating a parallel system to block content

Elon Musk’s social media platform X is challenging the Indian government over its approach to ordering the removal of certain content, according to reports. The company filed a lawsuit earlier this month accusing New Delhi of setting up a separate content removal mechanism that avoids legal checks designed to protect free speech.

According to Reuters, the suit claims the Indian IT Ministry is encouraging other government departments to use a content-blocking website, Sahyog, launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs last year.  A report in The Hindu said X alleges the portal allows the authorities to easily block online content, which it claims is a form of censorship.

X says the Indian government’s actions negatively impact its business and that arbitrary blocking will erode user trust, according to reports. 

The petition will be heard by the Karnataka High Court on March 27. X wants the court to rule that the government can only block content through a specific provision (Section 69A) outlined in India’s IT Act, and not through a more general provision in Section 79(3)(b) that it claims is being misused.  

Section 69A of the IT Act allows the central government to block access to online information, if it poses a threat to national security, public order, or other sensitive issues. On the other hand, Section 79 simply protects online platforms, such as social media companies and apps, from being held liable for content posted by their users.

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The Indian government countered X’s claims during a hearing on March 17. An official quoted by The Hindu said that these orders direct social media intermediaries to “remove illegal content,” and if they fail to do so, they become liable along with the users. This is distinct from an order under Section 69A, which involves blocking content on specific, limited grounds, the official said. 

The lawsuit signals a deepening rift between X and New Delhi over content takedown policies.  In July 2022, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Twitter (X’s former name), challenging several orders issued by the Indian government to remove some tweets and accounts. Between February 2021 and 2022, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued ten blocking orders to X, directing it to take down over 1,400 accounts, 175 tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag. The suit comes as Musk pushes to bring his other major ventures, Starlink and Tesla, into the Indian market.