‘Harms our business model’: X sues Centre for using IT Act to block content

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has filed a lawsuit in the Karnataka High Court against the Government of India, arguing that the Centre’s use of the Information Technology (IT) Act to block content is harming its ability to operate in the country and creating arbitrary censorship, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.

The social media platform argued that the government’s use of Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act creates an unlawful parallel content-blocking mechanism and violates the Supreme Court’s 2015 Shreya Singhal judgment, which ruled that content can only be blocked through a competent court order or the structured process under Section 69A.

According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, intermediaries must remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving actual knowledge through a court order or a government notification. Failure to comply within 36 hours results in the loss of safe harbour protection under Section 79(1), making them liable under applicable laws, including the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the ministry said in an office order dated November 3, 2023.

X has contended that this provision does not grant the government blocking powers and that authorities are misusing this section to bypass the safeguards of Section 69A’s structure process.

Section 69A of the IT Act empowers the Centre to block public access to any online content in the interest of sovereignty, integrity and security of the country, and public order. It is governed by the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, which outline a structured mechanism, including a committee review process before issuing blocking orders.

The report states that X is seeking protection not only from government actions related to blocking orders that violate Section 69A but also for its decision not to onboard an employee onto Sahyog, a portal developed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to “streamline” Section 79(3)(b) orders. X has referred to this portal as a “Censorship Portal.”

X has argued that the law does not authorise the creation of Sahyog or impose a statutory requirement to appoint a nodal officer for the portal, the report said. The social media platform stated that it has already designated the necessary officers in compliance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

During a hearing on March 17, Justice M Nagaprasanna permitted X to approach the court if the government took any “precipitative action” against it. The government, however, asserted during the hearing that no punitive measures had been taken against X for refusing to join the Sahyog portal.