India court dismisses X's challenge to Sahyog portal in free-speech fight
Karnataka High Court rules Elon Musk's X challenge lacks merit; case marks second loss over content takedown powers in roughly two years
A Karnataka High Court single-judge bench on Wednesday dismissed Elon Musk's X’s petition challenging India’s Sahyog portal, ruling the challenge “without merit.” The order has not yet been made public, and X has not indicated whether it plans to appeal. The decision underscores a broader pattern in which X has repeatedly contested the Indian government’s powers to block or remove content, marking its second defeat in just over two years on this front. X, which the company says has about 25 million users in India, is seeking to shape the contours of free speech within a rapidly evolving digital landscape in the world’s second-most-populous nation.
The Sahyog portal, run by the federal Home Ministry, describes itself as a tool to automate the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries such as X and Facebook. X filed the petition in March, arguing that Sahyog operates as a “censorship portal” that lets officials issue takedown orders by sidestepping required hearings and review procedures. In its view, the system would enable “countless” government officers, including tens of thousands of local police officers, to issue content removal orders unilaterally and arbitrarily. Other American tech giants, including Google, Amazon and Meta, joined Sahyog after its launch last year, but X chose not to participate. The company contended that the portal had effectively broadened the scope for censorship beyond established rules. ![Sahyog portal image](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0b65/live/7bec3e60-99d1-11f0-a968-79d6380f000b.jpg.webp