The Karnataka High Court has dismissed X Corp’s petition against the Union government’s Sahyog portal, which enables content takedown under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. The ruling marks a setback for X’s (previously Twitter) months-long litigation and endorses the government’s content regulation framework, which has already been adopted by 38 intermediaries, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Telegram. Delivering the verdict, Justice M. Nagaprasanna said that social media “cannot be left in a state of anarchic freedom” and that India’s digital space could not be treated as a “mere playground where information can be disseminated in defiance of statutes.”

How does the Sahyog portal operate?

Launched by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in October 2024, the Sahyog portal is operated by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) as a centralised platform for issuing takedown orders to internet intermediaries, including telecom operators, internet service providers, social media platforms, and web-hosting services. Its purpose is to enforce Section 79 of the IT Act, which grants intermediaries “safe harbour” protection — shielding them from liability for user-generated content. For instance, a platform cannot ordinarily be sued for a defamatory post published by a user. The legal liability rests solely with the individual who created the content.

However, this protection is conditional.