Musk’s X says to appeal Indian court order on content removal system – The Economic Times

Social media platform X stated on Monday it plans to enchantment an Indian court docket order that will enable over two million law enforcement officials nationwide to problem arbitrary takedown requests by way of a secretive on-line portal referred to as the Sahyog. “We’ll enchantment this order to defend free expression,” X stated in a submit on the platform, in its first assertion because the Excessive Court docket of Karnataka dominated final week that there was no authorized advantage to the corporate’s authorized problem to quash India’s content material removing mechanisms.

“The Sahyog allows officers to order content material removing primarily based solely on allegations of “illegality,” with out judicial evaluation or due course of for the audio system, and threatens platforms with felony legal responsibility for non-compliance,” X stated on Monday.

X has locked horns with New Delhi up to now, equating the federal government’s mechanisms with censorship. The federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated the brand new system tackles a proliferation of illegal content material and ensures accountability on-line.

X proprietor Elon Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist, has clashed with authorities in a number of international locations over compliance and content material takedown calls for, however the firm’s Indian lawsuit focused the complete foundation for tightened web regulation on the planet’s most populous nation.

Modi’s authorities has ramped up efforts to police the web since 2023 by permitting many extra officers to file takedown orders and submit them on to tech corporations by an internet site launched in October.