‘Sahyog’ not instrument of censorship, rules Karnataka HC; Elon Musk’s X to appeal order
Karnataka High Court Photograph: (PTI)
The Karnataka High Court said regulation of social media was “the need of the hour” and stressed that microblogging platforms cannot be allowed to operate without oversight. The bench stressed on regulation of social media, especially in cases of offences against women.
The Karnataka High Court has ruled that the Centre’s ‘SAHYOG’ portal is not an instrument of censorship, and will instead help streamline communication between authorised agencies and intermediaries. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the judgment while dismissing a petition filed by Elon Musk-owned X Corp challenging the Union Government’s recently-launched Sahyog portal, which is used to automate notices for removing unlawful online content. X, formerly Twitter, said that it would appeal the Karnataka High Court’s decision. The Sahyog portal was set up last year to allow state police and other authorised government agencies to send takedown notices to social media platforms. X argued that Sahyog is a broad and illegal censorship regime that would leave it with criminal liability if it did not comply.
The court said regulation of social media was “the need of the hour” and stressed that microblogging platforms cannot be allowed to operate without oversight. “Social media companies cannot be allowed to work unregulated in India,” the court said.
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‘Indian marketplaces cannot be treated as a playground’
“Article 19 remains the charter of rights for citizens only. The protective embrace of Article 19 cannot be invoked by those who are not citizens,” the court noted.
“American jurisprudence cannot be transported to Indian judicial thought process,” the bench remarked while criticising X for refusing to comply with India’s takedown orders while adhering to United States laws.
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Concluding its order, the bench said, “No social media platform can take exemption from the laws of the land. Indian marketplaces cannot be treated as a playground.”
‘Sahyog threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance,’ says X
“This new regime has no basis in the law, circumvents Section 69A of the IT Act, violates Supreme Court rulings, and infringes Indians’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression,” the Global Government Affairs team of X wrote on its handle @globalaffairs on the platform. “We will appeal this order to defend free expression.”
Sahyog enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of “illegality”, without judicial review or due process for speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance, X said.
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“We respectfully disagree with the view that we have no right to raise these concerns because of our incorporation abroad — 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,” X said.
The company also noted that the ruling contradicts the Bombay High Court’s recent decision striking down a similar framework as unconstitutional.
Karnataka High Court’s Justice M Nagaprasanna had on Wednesday (24 September dismissed X Corp.’s petition challenging the authority of government officials to issue content takedown orders under the Information Technology Act, 2000. The bench stressed on regulation of social media, especially in cases of offences against women.
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