Elon Musk’s X challenges Centre govt’s digital content rules

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The North News

New Delhi, March 20

Social media platform X (formerly Twitter), owned by US billionaire Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit in the Karnataka High Court against the Centre government, contesting what it calls unlawful content regulation and arbitrary censorship, the news outlet NDTV reported. The legal challenge focuses on the Centre’s interpretation of the Information Technology (IT) Act, particularly Section 79(3)(b), which X argues violates Supreme Court rulings and restricts free expression online. According to NDTV, the lawsuit alleges that the government is using this provision to establish a parallel content-blocking system, circumventing the legally mandated process under Section 69A of the IT Act.

The X claims that this approach contradicts the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 Shreya Singhal judgment, which ruled that content could only be blocked through a judicial process or under Section 69A’s structured legal framework.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) maintains that Section 79(3)(b) obliges digital platforms to remove illegal content when directed by a court order or government notification. Failure to comply within 36 hours, it warns, could result in the loss of safe harbor protection under Section 79(1) and potential legal liability under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the news outlet said.