The Karnataka High Court (HC) yesterday reportedly sought the Centre’s response on an appeal filed by social media platform X, challenging the government’s Sahyog portal that is used by authorities to send content takedown orders to online platforms.
As per Economic Times, the HC issued the notice after X filed an appeal against a previous single-judge order that upheld the validity of the portal.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha, has now scheduled the matter for further hearing on June 11.
In its appeal, X has contended that the Sahyog portal bypasses the procedure laid down under the IT Act, 2000, particularly Section 69A, which prescribes safeguards and due process for blocking online content. The social media platform further claims that the platform authorities to issue takedown orders without adhering to principles of transparency and procedural safeguards.
X’s appeal also reportedly claimed that the platform received 29,118 requests from the Indian government between January and June 2025 to remove posts, adding that it complied with 91.5% or 26,641 of the requests.
According to the company, Indian authorities are using Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act along with Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021 to issue takedown orders. X argued that this creates a parallel system for censorship that bypasses the formal process under Section 69A of the IT Act.
The company said Section 69A and the 2009 blocking rules are the only lawful mechanism for blocking online content in India. The framework, upheld in the Shreya Singhal ruling, contains procedural safeguards and allows blocking only on the limited grounds listed under Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
The appeal follows the company earlier challenging the portal before a single-judge bench of the High Court. It then argued that the mechanism bypassed safeguards laid down by the SC. The plea was filed after the railways ministry issued several takedown orders related to posts about a stampede at New Delhi Railway Station.
At the time, X had argued that Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, the provision under which the Sahyog portal was set up, did not allow the government to order content blocking.
In September last year, Justice M Nagaprasanna ruled that the portal is a legitimate tool used by the government to coordinate with online intermediaries for the removal of unlawful content.
The court observed that social media platforms cannot operate in “complete freedom” and that regulation of online speech is necessary, particularly in cases involving offences against women and other harms.
Notably, in the past as well, X has consistently maintained that such orders should only be issued under Section 69A of the IT Act or through a court order. However, the Centre has consistently defended the portal in court, arguing that Sahyog is merely a facilitative system designed to streamline communication between law enforcement agencies and online platforms.
The government has also argued that Section 79(3)(b) does not authorise blocking orders but instead outlines the conditions under which intermediaries must act on notices to retain safe harbour protection.
The dispute is part of a growing tussle between the Centre and the Elon Musk-owned platform over content moderation and regulatory compliance in the country. Most recently, X had to remove more than 3,500 pieces of “obscene” content, most of it generated using its chatbot Grok, after receiving a notice from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The platform also suspended around 600 accounts linked to the posts after deepfake images of women, created using its Grok tool, were circulated widely.
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