An Indian court has dismissed a case filed by Elon Musk’s platform X. The company had challenged a government portal it claimed 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 released.
X has not confirmed whether it will appeal the decision.
Another legal blow for the platform
This dismissal marks the second courtroom defeat for X in India in just over two years. The company had already lost a previous case over government powers to block content. Digital rights experts now warn of growing threats to free expression.
X has about 25 million users in India. Technology policy researcher Prateek Waghre called the ruling “worrisome”. He said it legitimised government agencies sending direct takedown orders to social media companies. He added that the full consequences would only be clear once the ruling is published.
X’s legal team refused to comment further. India’s home and information technology ministries have not yet responded to requests for statements.
Why X opposed Sahyog
The platform filed its case in March against Sahyog, operated by the federal home ministry. The portal automates government notices to intermediaries such as X and Facebook.
Google, Amazon and Meta joined Sahyog after its launch last year. X refused. The company described the system as a “censorship portal”. It argued Sahyog bypassed rules requiring hearings and review processes.
X claimed the portal allowed “countless” officials, including thousands of local police officers, to order content removals without oversight. In July, one of X’s lawyers said the system let “every Tom, Dick, and Harry officer” demand takedowns. Government lawyers objected to that remark.
If intermediaries ignore orders for more than 36 hours, they risk losing safe harbour protection. Without this, they could be held liable for user content.
Government backs tighter controls
The Indian government defended Sahyog as a response to rising volumes of harmful content. Officials insisted the portal only notified platforms of unlawful material, rather than directly blocking content.
The Karnataka judge dismissed X’s arguments on Wednesday. He said social media could not exist in “a state of anarchic freedom”. He called regulation necessary and described Sahyog as a “public good”.
The judge also pointed out that X complies with takedown orders in the United States. He questioned why the company refused to follow similar rules in India.
International law in the spotlight
The court referred to the Take It Down Act passed in the US earlier this year. The law criminalises sharing intimate images without consent and forces platforms to remove such content within 48 hours. X has said it supports the act.
When X filed its petition, digital rights experts warned that Sahyog had triggered “a wholesale increase in censorship”. Court documents revealed agencies had demanded removals of varied content. These included videos of a deadly crush in Delhi and posts said to damage the reputation of senior political leaders.
Ongoing battle with Indian authorities
X remains the only social media platform challenging India’s content blocking systems. Legal experts often describe these mechanisms as opaque and arbitrary.
In 2022, before Musk bought the company, X contested several takedown orders. A year later, the Karnataka High Court ruled against X and fined it 5 million rupees for delays in compliance.
That appeal remains unresolved. With this latest ruling, X faces another serious obstacle in its fight over free expression in India.
