Social Media Law Row: Centre Vows Due Process As X Takes Union Govt To Court Over IT Rule Misuse

The government has stated it will adhere to proper procedures, and social media platforms must comply with legal requirements, according to sources responding to a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's social media company X against the Indian government, reported NDTV.

X has accused the Centre of exploiting Information Technology laws to establish an "unlawful blocking regime".

Photo Credit: https://x.com/X; Pexels

A senior government source told, "Process will be followed and social media platforms should follow the law."

This firm stance follows X, formerly known as Twitter, lodging a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court.

In its filing, X referenced the Supreme Court's 2015 Shreya Singhal ruling, which invalidated Section 66A of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000-a provision that had penalised the sending of offensive messages via communication devices.

The petition claims that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has instructed central ministries, state governments, and "effectively tens of thousands of local police officers", informing them they are authorised to issue information-blocking orders under Section 79(3)(b), bypassing the process outlined in Section 69A.

Section 79(3)(b) stipulates that an IT intermediary loses its immunity from liability if it fails to "expeditiously remove or disable access" to content flagged by a government agency as being tied to an unlawful act.

X's petition argues that invoking Section 79(3)(b) undermines Section 69A, which allows the government to block public access to information but includes specific safeguards.

"Section 79 merely exempts intermediaries from liability for third-party content; it does not empower the government to issue information blocking orders in violation of Section 69A. A full 23 years after Section 79 was enacted, and 14 years after the current version went into effect, Respondents are now attempting to misuse Section 79 to create an unlawful blocking regime without any of the protections that exist under Section 69A, the Blocking Rules, and the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal," the petition states.