Centre, Elon Musk’s X clash over Sahyog Portal: 'Groundless concern of censorship'

The Union government has criticised Elon Musk’s social media platform X for labelling ‘Sahyog Portal’ as a "censorship portal," escalating a legal battle over content regulation, reported Reuters citing court documents on Friday.

The website in question, launched to notify tech companies of harmful online content, has become a flashpoint in the ongoing dispute between X and the Indian government just as Musk prepares to bring his other key ventures, like Starlink and Tesla, to the country.

"The use of the said terminology by a worldwide portal like X is unfortunate and condemnable," the Ministry of Information Technology said in response to a lawsuit filed by X in the Karnataka High Court, dismissing X’s claims as a "groundless concern of censorship."

The government has defended the website, asserting it is designed solely to swiftly notify tech firms about their due diligence obligations under Indian law, with no blocking orders issued through the platform.

However, X contends that the Sahyog portal, launched by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, grants "countless" government officials unchecked authority to suppress online content.

The government, however, maintains that the portal streamlines takedown requests and enhances coordination with tech companies.

X also accused the government of misinterpreting Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, which mandates platforms to remove illegal content within 36 hours of a court order or government notice.

The company argued that this provision is being exploited to establish a parallel content-blocking mechanism, violating the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India.

The landmark judgment stipulated that content restrictions must follow a judicial process or the procedure outlined under Section 69A of the IT Act.

X further alleged that the government’s approach undermines free expression online and threatens the safe harbour protections under Section 79(1), which shield platforms from liability for user-generated content.