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New Delhi: Elon Musk’s social media platform X will appeal a Karnataka court order that gives nod to a system for taking down online content. X avers the system breaks Indian law and violates people’s basic rights. The order lets millions of police officers request the removal of posts through a portal called Sahyog, without any court review or public transparency.
In a post on the platform, X said: "X contributes significantly to public discourse in India and the voice of our users is at the heart of our platform. We will appeal this order to defend free expression."
The portal was started in October 2024 by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs through the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). The portal functions as a centralised platform for government agencies to issue content takedown notices to social media platforms.
Under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the system permits authorised officials to directly request any "unlawful" content to be removed.
PTI reported that since its launch, the portal has issued 130 content takedown notices to major platforms, including Google, YouTube, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, between October 2024 and April this year.
In a post on X’s Global Government Affairs account, it had said the system bypasses Section 69A of the IT Act, which normally governs content restrictions. This section requires proper oversight and due process, as affirmed by the Supreme Court in previous rulings. However, the Sahyog portal allows officers to label content as “illegal” and demand its removal, with platforms facing criminal penalties if they don’t fall in line.
The social media platform contended that the system effectively denies users their constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression, as content could be removed arbitrarily with no way to challenge it.
On September 24, 2025, the Karnataka High Court dismissed X's petition challenging the government's use of the Sahyog portal for content takedown orders. This was a major blow for the platform's efforts to challenge what it calls "arbitrary censorship" in one of its most important global markets.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna ruled that X, as a foreign corporation, cannot invoke India's constitutional protections for free speech. Justice Nagaprasanna’s 351-page ruling tackled multiple key constitutional issues raised in X’s challenge.
The court pointed out that Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression, applies exclusively to Indian citizens, not foreign corporations operating in the country.
The ruling highlighted the difference between constitutional rights available to all persons (Articles 14 and 21) versus those restricted to citizens (Article 19). The order prevented X from bypassing this restriction by citing equality provisions. The court also said that X functions as a "faceless" entity in India, lacking legal incorporation or official offices in the country.
