Elon Musk's X Challenges Government's Content Blocking Mechanism Before Karnataka High Court

X Corp., the social media platform owned by US billionaire Elon Musk, recently filed a writ petition before the Karnataka High Court, flagging concerns over alleged censorship.

In its plea, X has called out “Sahyog” portal, a government platform conveying content take-down orders from agencies to social media platforms.

As per the information available on the high court website, the case was filed on March 5 and was recently heard on March 17. The next date of the hearing has been fixed for March 27.

The case is listed before the single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna.

The issue flared up because of multiple takedown orders received by X from the Union Ministry of Railways regarding the stampede at New Delhi railway station last month, people in the know told NDTV Profit.

The petition mentions the Union of India, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology and others among its respondents.

X argues that Section 69A of the Information and Technology Act is the only legal provision that allows the government to block access to online information, and it comes with strict procedural safeguards, including written orders, hearings, and judicial oversight.

However, the government is allegedly using Section 79(3)(b) to issue blocking orders without following these safeguards, creating an unlawful parallel system, as per the company's plea.

X further contends that the government's actions violate Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. Some blocking orders follow due process under Section 69A, while others issued under Section 79(3)(b) do not, creating an arbitrary and discriminatory system, it alleged.

Additionally, if Section 79(3)(b) is interpreted to allow content blocking without any safeguards, it would be unconstitutional under Article 19(1)(a), which protects the right to free speech, it added.

Another major concern for X is the creation of a "Censorship Portal" by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

This online portal allegedly allows various government agencies and even local police officers to issue blocking orders without going through the Section 69A process, according to the petition. X argued that there is no legal basis for such a portal and that it should not be forced to comply with an "unauthorised" system.

The Musk-led company is asking the court to declare that only the use of Section 69A should be the authorised way to issue content takedown orders.