Elon Musk’s X Corp., formerly Twitter, will appeal against a Karnataka High Court order that allows the government to take down content using the Sahyog portal.
“This new regime has no basis in the law, circumvents Section 69A of the IT Act, violates Supreme Court rulings, and infringes Indians’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression,” X, through its @globalaffairs handle, wrote on its platform.
“We will appeal this order to defend free expression.”
On Wednesday (24 September 2025), the Karnataka High Court dismissed X Corp.’s petition that challenged the authority of government officials to issue content takedown orders under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The bench presided over by Justice M Nagaprasanna stressed on regulation of social media, especially in cases of offences against women.
The Indian marketplace cannot be presumed as a mere playground where information can be disseminated in defiance of statutes or disregard to legality, the court said.
“We respectfully disagree with the view that we have no right to raise these concerns because of our incorporation abroad — X contributes significantly to public discourse in India and the voice of our users is at the heart of our platform. We will appeal this order to defend free expression,” X said
Sahyog enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of “illegality”, without judicial review or due process for speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance, X said.
