Elon Musk’s company, X (formerly known as Twitter), has filed a legal petition in the Karnataka High Court. The petition filed by X states that the usage of Section 79(3)(b) of the Income Tax Act by the Indian government and the “Sahyog Portal” has made it an illegal and uncontrolled way to censor people who get around legal protections.
According to section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, intermediaries (social media platforms) will lose their immunity from legal action if they don’t explicitly remove an “unlawful content” that has been flagged by the Indian government and directed under legal notice to delete it.
X Corp claims that the government is mistaking Section 79(3)(b) to take down the topic orders that do not follow the procedural safeguards that are stated in Section 69A. As per the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case (2015) of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India the Section 69A is the only valid legal framework for blocking online content.
The requirements of Section 69A include documenting reasons for blocking content in writing, providing a pre-decisional hearing, and allowing for legal challenges all of which, the company asserts, are being ignored.
The petition states, “The law mandates that information blocking can only be carried out under Section 69A, which provides for judicial scrutiny. By using Section 79(3)(b) as an alternative mechanism, the government is effectively nullifying the Supreme Court’s directives.”
Chandra R. Srikanth, an Indian journalist with Money Control, has posted about the situation on X, prompting various responses from users. One user remarked that a conflict has begun between Grok (Musk’s fact-checking AI) and the Indian government, suggesting that Musk, a powerful figure in America, will not back down easily. Another user called for Grok to fact-check the situation.
It’s worth noting that this is not the first time that the X has challenged India’s content-blocking orders. In the past, during the year 2022, the company has questioned the legality of the Section 69A order, as the government has blocked entire accounts on Twitter rather than a few specific tweets.
Also Read: Elon Musk’s X to Launch Smart Cashtags for Stocks and Crypto Tracking
