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27-09-2025
NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU: An Indian court on Wednesday ruled there was no merit in X’s legal challenge to quash the country’s content removal mechanism the social media site had equated with censorship, saying the platform had a duty of accountability and must follow local laws.
X-owner Elon Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist, has clashed with authorities in several countries over compliance and content takedown demands, but ‘Indian lawsuit had targeted the entire basis for tightened internet regulation in the world’s most populous nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has since 2023 ramped up efforts to police the internet by allowing many more officials to file takedown orders and submit them directly to tech firms through a government website launched in October.
X had said the measures were unconstitutional and amounted to censorship.
JUDGE REJECTS X’S CENSORSHIP CLAIMS
“Every platform that seeks to operate within the jurisdiction of our nation, which they do, must accept that liberty is yoked with responsibility,” Judge M Nagaprasanna said in dismissing X’s case.
A representative for X in India did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the ruling.
The ruling by the high court in the southern state of Karnataka comes after months of legal wrangling between lawyers from both sides, including a remark by X that every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” government official had been authorized to issue content takedown orders.
In response, Modi’s government had argued the new system tackled a proliferation of unlawful content and ensured accountability online.
The government also says many tech companies, including Meta, opens new tab and Alphabet’s, opens new tab Google, support its actions.
It argued that the platform serves as a vehicle for “spreading hate and division” that threatens social harmony, while “fake news” on the platform has sparked unspecified law-and-order issues.
X could appeal Wednesday’s ruling, including at the Supreme Court of India.
In July, a lawyer for Elon Musk’s X told an Indian court on Tuesday that every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” government official had been authorized to issue content takedown orders, drawing a sharp rebuke from New Delhi’s counsel in the latest clash over content moderation.
X has long been at loggerheads with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over content removal requests.
The remarks were made during a hearing on the US firm’s challenge to a government-run website it says is a “censorship portal” that allows officials to issue content removal orders. New Delhi says the website is only to swiftly notify companies of their due diligence obligations.
India is a critical growth market for X owner Musk, who is getting closer to launching his other key ventures Starlink and Tesla in the country.
During the court hearing, X’s lawyer, K. G. Raghavan, said it recently received a notice from the railways department to remove a video in which a car was being driven on a railway track. That was news, but the government found it unlawful, he told the court.
“This is the danger, My Lord, that is done now, if every Tom, Dick and Harry officer is authorised,” Raghavan told the high court in the southern state of Karnataka.
The phrase drew immediate condemnation from India’s Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who said “officers are not Tom, Dick, or Harry … they are statutory functionaries”.
