Key Points
Karnataka HC refuses interim relief for X Corp Sahyog portal challenge
Government defends content blocking mechanism
X Corp claims legal compliance but challenges portal
Hearing adjourned to April 24
The Bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order in this regard and adjourned the further hearing on the matter to April 24.
The Sahyog portal has been developed to automate the process of sending notices to intermediaries by the appropriate government or its agency under IT Act, 2000 to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act.
Senior counsel, K.G. Raghavan representing X Corp pleaded the High Court for relief in this regard by submitting that it fully intends to abide by the India law. However, X maintained that, the new-content blocking mechanism under the Sahyog portal is legally flawed.
The bench noted that the government of India has already made a submission that there is no necessity for the X Corp of coercive action and refused to grant the interim relief in this regard. The bench stated that there is no need for further interim order.
Counsel Raghvan submitted to the court to issue instructions to the Central government and prevent it from taking any kind of coercive action against X.
He further submitted X Corp will comply with laws of the land against offensive content, deepfakes, etc.
“We are concerned with the discretion and authority with which Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology is used,” he argued.
Section 79(3)(b) of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, removes the "safe harbour" protection granted to intermediaries (like social media platforms) if they fail to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving actual knowledge or a government notification.
"Safe harbour" is a provision that shields a person or organisation from certain liabilities or consequences when they meet specific conditions or follow certain guidelines.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General of India Arvind Kamath appeared for the Central government.
Earlier, in its submission to the Karnataka High Court on March 29, the Union government has strongly objected to Elon Musk-owned X Corp’s characterisation of the ‘Sahyog’ portal as a "censorship portal".
Dismissing X's allegations, the Centre had asserted that the platform's use of terms like “censorship portal” and “blocking order” is misleading and legally incorrect.
"By raising a baseless concern of censorship, X is trying to portray itself as a user, which it is not. Calling Sahyog a censorship portal is misleading and unacceptable," the Centre's affidavit further said.
X had moved the Karnataka High Court, arguing that the Sahyog portal and related government actions circumvent the statutory framework established by the IT Act and the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India.
Comments:
Interesting development! The government's stance on calling it a "censorship portal" seems fair. There needs to be some mechanism to control harmful content while protecting free speech. Tough balance to strike though. 🤔
X Corp should just follow Indian laws like every other platform. Why special treatment? If they want to operate here, they need to respect our regulations. Simple as that.
I'm concerned about how this might affect free speech. While regulation is important, we've seen how these mechanisms can be misused in other countries. Hope the courts keep a close watch on implementation.
Good decision by the court! The Sahyog portal seems like a step towards more transparency in content moderation. Better than the current opaque system where we don't know why posts get taken down.
While I understand the need for regulation, I'm not fully convinced by the government's arguments. The portal's implementation details matter a lot - hope they publish clear guidelines about what constitutes "unlawful content". Without proper safeguards, this could be problematic.
Elon Musk's companies always seem to be fighting governments everywhere. Maybe time to accept that different countries have different rules? 🇮🇳
