'To defend free expression': 'Deeply concerned' Musk's X to appeal Karnataka High Court's ruling on Centre's takedown orders

Elon Musk owned-social media platform X on Monday said that it plans to appeal a recent Karnataka High Court order that dismissed its petition challenging the union government’s direction authorizing certain officials to issue information blocking orders under section 79 (3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

"We will appeal this order to defend free expression," X said in a post on the platform.

"X is deeply concerned by the recent order from the Karnataka court in India, which will allow millions of police officers to issue arbitrary takedown orders through a secretive online portal called the Sahyog," it added.

This is Musk-owned platform's first statement since the High Court of Karnataka ruled last week that there was no legal merit to the company's legal challenge to quash India's content removal mechanisms.

"The Sahyog enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of "illegality," without judicial review or due process for the speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance," X said on Monday.

In its petition, X Corp contended that section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act does not authorise the government to issue information blocking orders in circumvention of section 69A, the Blocking Rules, and the Apex Court decision in Shreya Singhal case, the Apex Court had held that section 69A is the only procedure to issue blocking orders because it is ‘a narrowly drawn provision with several safeguards.

The petitioner had also sought a direction to the authorities to restrain them from taking coercive action against its representatives, employees or officers, for not joining the Sahyog portal, created by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) October on 9, 2024. The MHA sent a letter asking the X Corp to appoint a ‘Nodal Officer’ to ensure compliance with the blocking orders that will be issued through the portal, the petition said.

With DHNS inputs