The Karnataka High Court on Thursday refused to grant interim relief to X Corp (formerly known as Twitter) in its legal challenge against the mandatory onboarding requirement to the central government’s ‘Sahyog’ portal. The court, presided over by Justice M Nagaprasanna, indicated that the company should not be apprehensive about coercive action from the government at this stage.
X Corp’s petition contests the directive that compels it to participate in the Sahyog portal, which is designed to facilitate the execution of content-blocking orders for social media platforms and other internet intermediaries. The company has raised concerns that the governmentโs approach lacks the robust legal safeguards provided under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, arguing instead that the government has been issuing orders under Section 79(3)(b). This latter provision limits protections for intermediaries under specific conditions, which X Corp contends is legally insufficient.
Senior Advocate K G Raghavan, representing X Corp, highlighted the importance of the legal safeguards that were pivotal in the Supreme Court’s upholding of Section 69A in the landmark Shreya Singhal case, including provisions for post-decisional hearings. He questioned the legality of potentially circumventing these protections by invoking Section 79(3)(b) and requested the court to ensure that any coercive actions against X Corp adhere strictly to the requirements of Section 69A.
On the other side, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aravind Kamath, representing the central government, emphasized the necessity for all intermediaries to conform to Indian laws, which include mandates on content moderation.
Justice Nagaprasanna noted the government’s assurance that no coercive action is planned against X Corp at this time and mentioned that the company could seek legal protection if any action were taken. With these considerations, the judge decided that no additional interim relief was needed presently.
