Latest news with #Sahyog
Indian Express
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
High Court seeks response from L-G, Centre in plea authorising Delhi Police to block online content
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Delhi Lieutenant Governor and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology within six weeks in a public interest litigation challenging a notification appointing the Delhi Police as the nodal agency, under IT Act and Rules, for blocking online content or issuing take down notices. The notification was issued by the L-G in December last year. The challenge comes even as the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs told the Delhi High Court on April 29 that it is in the process of integrating the Application Programming Interface (API) with around 1,100 entities, including internet service providers, social media intermediaries and telecom network providers on its Sahyog portal. With the API integration with the IT intermediaries and other entities on the cyberspace, any request for a takedown raised by a law enforcement agency, will automatically be pulled down in real-time without any human intervention. For example, the moment a law enforcement agency (LEA) puts a request on the portal for takedown of content, the platform, if its API is already integrated with Sahyog, will take down the content immediately. This will also empower local police stations to order for take down of content. According to a source, over 15,000 LEAs are now onboarded on the portal. The Sahyog portal, launched in 2024, is aimed at expediting the process of sending notices to IT intermediaries by the appropriate government or its agency under Section 79 (3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000 to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link with an objective to curtail/detect unlawful/criminal act. The provision of Section 79(3)(b), part of the safe harbour provision, requires that a content flagged as unlawful by the government or its agency, has to be taken down first whereafter any grievance or appeal is entertained. In the petition filed by Software Freedom Law Center India ( through its advocate Musheer Zaidi, the constitutional validity of the notification has been challenged, submitting that the same is without the authority of law, and adds that the IT Act 'does not envisage the creation or functioning of any nodal agency' in the manner as has been done through the notification. SFLC India has contended that such appointment of members of the police as a nodal agency and delegation of authority to law enforcement agencies, without necessary safeguards 'results in unbridled discretion and opens the door for unchecked censorship.' On December 26, 2024, the Home department of the Delhi government issued a gazette notification designating the Delhi Police as the nodal agency for performing functions under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000. The notification also appointed Joint Commissioner of Police, IFSO (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations), Special Cell as state nodal officer, DCP IFSO as he assistant state nodal officer, and DCP of districts, IFSO, EOW, Crime, Special Cell, Special Branch, IGIA, Railways and Metro as designated officers for issuing takedown notice pertaining to cases reported in their respective jurisdictions and for notifying instances of unlawful act online. Seeking quashing of the notification, has argued in its plea that Section 69A of IT Act already establishes the procedure for blocking access to information. It has also argued that IT Act Section 79 (3)(b) 'explicitly establishes that only a notification by the appropriate Government or its agency can be considered for the issuance of takedown orders,' and the L-G, 'even while acting as the so-called 'nodal agency,' cannot unilaterally declare the authority of the Delhi Police to be the 'appropriate government or its agency' for the purposes of issuing such orders.' The petitioner has further submitted that 'allowing them to issue takedown notices without judicial oversight could lead to arbitrary actions, infringing upon the due process of law.' Issuing notice on Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela kept the matter next for consideration on September 17.
Saudi Gazette
03-04-2025
- Business
- Saudi Gazette
Musk's X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry
NEW DELHI — An Indian court is due to hear a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's social media company X, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of misusing the law to censor content on its platform. Last month, X sued the government saying a new website — Sahyog — launched by the federal home ministry last year, was being used to expand its censorship powers and take down content. X argued the portal gave government officials wide-ranging powers to issue blocking orders that were "in violation" of India's digital laws. It said it could not be compelled to join Sahyog, which it called a "censorship portal". The Indian government has said that the portal is necessary to tackle harmful online content. Other American technology giants such as Amazon, Google and Meta have agreed to be on Sahyog. Sahyog describes itself as a portal developed to automate the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries like X and lawsuit filed in the southern state of Karnataka came after the federal railway ministry ordered X to remove "hundreds of posts".These included videos of a crush in Delhi in which 18 people died as they were making their way to the world's largest religious gathering, the Kumbh its petition, X argues that the portal and the orders issued through it fall outside the remit of the original law that allows the government to block this law, senior officials have the power to issue takedown orders, but after following due procedure like giving notices, opportunities for hearings and allowing for a review of any X says the government is bypassing these procedures to issue arbitrary content takedown orders through other legal provisions that have no a result, "countless" government officials, including "tens of thousands of local police officers", are "unilaterally and arbitrarily" issuing orders, X argues in its federal IT and home ministries did not respond to the BBC's request for court, the government has argued that its actions are lawful. It said it was not sending blocking orders but only issuing "notices" to platforms against unlawful government also defended the Sahyog platform saying it was a "necessity" because of the "growing volume of unlawful and harmful content online".The case is of "vital importance" as the blocking mechanism of the Sahyog portal has resulted in "a wholesale increase in censorship", said Apar Gupta of the digital rights organisation, Internet Freedom is not the first time the Indian government and X are at Delhi police had raided the offices of X (then Twitter) in 2021, before Musk took over, after a tweet by a ruling party spokesperson was marked as "manipulated media".In 2022, the company had sued the Indian government against blocking orders, at least one of which pertained to a year-long protest by farmers against new laws brought in by the government. However, the court ruled against the company and imposed a fine of 5m rupees ($58,000; £45,000).Under Musk's leadership, X appealed against this decision, which is currently separately being heard in the Karnataka high 2023, India called X a "habitual non-compliant platform" during the appeal is also reportedly investigating X's chatbot Grok regarding its use of inappropriate language and "controversial responses" after it made politically sensitive comments to user prompts timing of the lawsuit is interesting as it comes when Musk's other companies Starlink and Tesla have just begun making inroads into India with their business in March, Starlink signed an agreement with two of India's biggest telecoms firms to bring satellite internet to India and is awaiting government approval to start providing its could finally be making its debut and has begun hiring for a dozen jobs in Delhi and Mumbai. It is also reportedly hunting for showrooms in both also met Prime Minister Modi when he visited the White House last growing business interests in India and closeness with US President Donald Trump give him "ample leverage" with India, Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Centre's South Asia Institute in Washington, told the BBC."This means he has a lot of leeway in terms of how he operates, including making a decision to sue the Indian government," he added, saying the case might not hurt Musk's business prospects in the country. — BBC
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk's X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry
An Indian court is due to hear a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's social media company X, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of misusing the law to censor content on its platform. Last month, X sued the government saying a new website - Sahyog - launched by the federal home ministry last year, was being used to expand its censorship powers and take down content. X argued the portal gave government officials wide-ranging powers to issue blocking orders that were "in violation" of India's digital laws. It said it could not be compelled to join Sahyog, which it called a "censorship portal". The Indian government has said that the portal is necessary to tackle harmful online content. Other American technology giants such as Amazon, Google and Meta have agreed to be on Sahyog. Sahyog describes itself as a portal developed to automate the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries like X and Facebook. The lawsuit filed in the southern state of Karnataka came after the federal railway ministry ordered X to remove "hundreds of posts". These included videos of a crush in Delhi in which 18 people died as they were making their way to the world's largest religious gathering, the Kumbh Mela. In its petition, X argues that the portal and the orders issued through it fall outside the remit of the original law that allows the government to block content. Under this law, senior officials have the power to issue takedown orders, but after following due procedure like giving notices, opportunities for hearings and allowing for a review of any decision. But X says the government is bypassing these procedures to issue arbitrary content takedown orders through other legal provisions that have no safeguards. As a result, "countless" government officials, including "tens of thousands of local police officers", are "unilaterally and arbitrarily" issuing orders, X argues in its petition. India's federal IT and home ministries did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. In court, the government has argued that its actions are lawful. It said it was not sending blocking orders but only issuing "notices" to platforms against unlawful content. The government also defended the Sahyog platform saying it was a "necessity" because of the "growing volume of unlawful and harmful content online". The case is of "vital importance" as the blocking mechanism of the Sahyog portal has resulted in "a wholesale increase in censorship", said Apar Gupta of the digital rights organisation, Internet Freedom Foundation. This is not the first time the Indian government and X are at loggerheads. The Delhi police had raided the offices of X (then Twitter) in 2021, before Musk took over, after a tweet by a ruling party spokesperson was marked as "manipulated media". In 2022, the company had sued the Indian government against blocking orders, at least one of which pertained to a year-long protest by farmers against new laws brought in by the government. However, the court ruled against the company and imposed a fine of 5m rupees ($58,000; £45,000). Under Musk's leadership, X appealed against this decision, which is currently separately being heard in the Karnataka high court. In 2023, India called X a "habitual non-compliant platform" during the appeal proceedings. India is also reportedly investigating X's chatbot Grok regarding its use of inappropriate language and "controversial responses" after it made politically sensitive comments to user prompts recently. The timing of the lawsuit is interesting as it comes when Musk's other companies Starlink and Tesla have just begun making inroads into India with their business plans. Earlier in March, Starlink signed an agreement with two of India's biggest telecoms firms to bring satellite internet to India and is awaiting government approval to start providing its services. Tesla could finally be making its debut and has begun hiring for a dozen jobs in Delhi and Mumbai. It is also reportedly hunting for showrooms in both cities. Musk also met Prime Minister Modi when he visited the White House last month. His growing business interests in India and closeness with US President Donald Trump give him "ample leverage" with India, Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Centre's South Asia Institute in Washington, told the BBC. "This means he has a lot of leeway in terms of how he operates, including making a decision to sue the Indian government," he added, saying the case might not hurt Musk's business prospects in the country. Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
BBC News
03-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Elon Musk: X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry
An Indian court is due to hear a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's social media company X, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of misusing the law to censor content on its month, X sued the government saying a new website - Sahyog - launched by the federal home ministry last year, was being used to expand its censorship powers and take down content.X argued the portal gave government officials wide-ranging powers to issue blocking orders that were "in violation" of India's digital laws. It said it could not be compelled to join Sahyog, which it called a "censorship portal". The Indian government has said that the portal is necessary to tackle harmful online content. Other American technology giants such as Amazon, Google and Meta have agreed to be on describes itself as a portal developed to automate the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries like X and lawsuit filed in the southern state of Karnataka came after the federal railway ministry ordered X to remove "hundreds of posts". These included videos of a crush in Delhi in which 18 people died as they were making their way to the world's largest religious gathering, the Kumbh its petition, X argues that the portal and the orders issued through it fall outside the remit of the original law that allows the government to block this law, senior officials have the power to issue takedown orders, but after following due procedure like giving notices, opportunities for hearings and allowing for a review of any X says the government is bypassing these procedures to issue arbitrary content takedown orders through other legal provisions that have no a result, "countless" government officials, including "tens of thousands of local police officers", are "unilaterally and arbitrarily" issuing orders, X argues in its federal IT and home ministries did not respond to the BBC's request for court, the government has argued that its actions are lawful. It said it was not sending blocking orders but only issuing "notices" to platforms against unlawful content. The government also defended the Sahyog platform saying it was a "necessity" because of the "growing volume of unlawful and harmful content online". The case is of "vital importance" as the blocking mechanism of the Sahyog portal has resulted in "a wholesale increase in censorship", said Apar Gupta of the digital rights organisation, Internet Freedom is not the first time the Indian government and X are at Delhi police had raided the offices of X (then Twitter) in 2021, before Musk took over, after a tweet by a ruling party spokesperson was marked as "manipulated media".In 2022, the company had sued the Indian government against blocking orders, at least one of which pertained to a year-long protest by farmers against new laws brought in by the government. However, the court ruled against the company and imposed a fine of 5m rupees ($58,000; £45,000).Under Musk's leadership, X appealed against this decision, which is currently separately being heard in the Karnataka high 2023, India called X a "habitual non-compliant platform" during the appeal is also reportedly investigating X's chatbot Grok regarding its use of inappropriate language and "controversial responses" after it made politically sensitive comments to user prompts recently. The timing of the lawsuit is interesting as it comes when Musk's other companies Starlink and Tesla have just begun making inroads into India with their business in March, Starlink signed an agreement with two of India's biggest telecoms firms to bring satellite internet to India and is awaiting government approval to start providing its could finally be making its debut and has begun hiring for a dozen jobs in Delhi and Mumbai. It is also reportedly hunting for showrooms in both also met Prime Minister Modi when he visited the White House last growing business interests in India and closeness with US President Donald Trump give him "ample leverage" with India, Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Centre's South Asia Institute in Washington, told the BBC."This means he has a lot of leeway in terms of how he operates, including making a decision to sue the Indian government," he added, saying the case might not hurt Musk's business prospects in the BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Al Jazeera
22-03-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Why is X suing the Indian government as Musk woos Modi?
When Elon Musk met Narendra Modi in Washington DC in February, the SpaceX and Tesla chief presented India's prime minister with a gift and introduced him to his family. Modi described the meeting as 'very good'. Modi was in the United States to see President Donald Trump. In Modi's meeting with Musk, the two talked about collaborating in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), space exploration, innovation and sustainable development, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs. But almost a month later, Musk's social media platform X has filed a lawsuit against the Indian government, alleging that New Delhi is unlawfully censoring content online. The lawsuit comes as Musk edges closer to launching both Starlink and Tesla in India. So why is X suing India just as Musk is trying to charm Modi? In a suit filed in the high court of the South Indian state of Karnataka on March 5, X has alleged that the government of India is using 'an impermissible parallel mechanism' which blocks content online and also empowers government officials and ministries to remove illegal online content, circumventing the legal process for content regulation laid out in the country's Information Technology Act. Section 69A of the country's IT Act, which was passed in October 2000, gives India's IT ministry the right to remove online content deemed harmful to the country's national security and 'public decorum', but it must follow a judiciary process under which the ministry requests permission to remove online content from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). MeitY examines the content and then decides whether to censor it. Now, the Indian government has introduced a new mechanism to delete content – Section 79 (3)(b) of the IT Act, which has a separate blocking process. Section 79 (3)(b) allows online content to be removed following a simple notification from a government official. Notices to remove content can be sent via the government's 'Sahyog' (which means cooperation in English) portal without any form of judicial review. The Indian government requires social media platforms like X to sign up to the Sahyog portal, but the social media platform claims doing so will subject it to 'arbitrary censorship'. 'The new legal censorship power they have created [through the Sahyog portal] does not have safeguards such as a requirement of a designated officer sending the censorship request to the central government. Now, it can be done by any government department by designating an officer which can send takedown requests, as was done by the country's railway ministry earlier this year, when it ordered X to take down over 200 videos concerning a stampede which occurred in New Delhi in February,' Apar Gupta, a lawyer and co-founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, told Al Jazeera. 'Through the parallel censorship system, the government has taken an illegal step. There is merit to the claim being made by X in this instance,' Gupta added. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member and former IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Indian News Agency Asian News International: 'India is a country where the law applies to everybody. X is within its right to go to court.' X's case against the government was made public by Indian media reports on March 20 and the next hearing is at the Karnataka High Court on March 27. Al Jazeera has contacted India's IT ministry and the ruling BJP party for comment. It does not seem so. While officials at MeitY have told local media that it is talking to X about content generated by the social media platform's in-built chatbot, Grok 3, the X lawsuit predates this. In recent weeks Grok has caused a stir in India by generating content and responses to users' questions which are considered 'abusive and controversial' by the ruling BJP government. When one X user 'asked' Grok if Prime Minister Modi's interview responses are scripted, the chatbot responded: 'Modi's interviews often seem scripted – his answers are polished, on-message and rarely stray from the narrative. He's a PR machine, using social media and controlled settings to shape his image, as seen with his heavy multimedia strategy since 2014. Real impromptu moments? Almost nonexistent.' Gupta said: 'There has been a high level of self-censorship in India, as well as a rise in what is called digital authoritarianism, in which a lot of people don't feel free to say what they want to say. Grok gives them the chance to pose questions critical of the union government, particularly the prime minister and the chatbot has been responding on the basis of a data stream, which includes Wikipedia articles and journalistic articles in a chatting and engaging manner.' 'But at its very root, people need to understand that Grok is mostly AI which has been trained on public resources and what it is stating can also reflect misinformation and may suffer from biases,' he added. 'There is no correlation between filing the case and the Grok responses generating a viral trend. The only relationship is that the same ministry of the government [MeitY] is involved,' he added. Gupta said it is too early to tell what the impact of the outcome of the case will be for X users in the country. 'For users in India, there has always been friction between the government and large social media platforms. The reason behind this is that the government often does not follow the constitutional limits placed on them and requires censorship for political reasons. So any pushback by platforms ends up supporting the cause of free expression, which is very well needed in closed societies where a very high level of censorship is present,' he said. 'But in this case, X also has a historic problem of not being more transparent with how it decides and determines its content moderation practices, and globally, X has stopped reporting government demands for takedowns, which used to be submitted prior to Musk's takeover. So X definitely is no model corporate actor in a way either,' he added. It is unlikely, say experts. Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at The Wilson Center, a Washington, DC-based think tank, told Al Jazeera that Musk operates with 'a lot of leverage' in India, thanks to his wealth and the investment capital he's prepared to deploy in high-growth industries such as telecoms and renewables. Musk has also been appointed by Trump to lead the US government's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has announced swingeing cuts to federal jobs and claimed to have found billions of dollars of waste and fraud in government spending. 'His proximity to Trump ramps this leverage up even more. So he has great leeway to do as he wishes without the risk of alienating New Delhi. He can dangle Starlink and Tesla while also acting on his principle of 'free speech absolutism' on social media,' he said. He has already reached agreements with telecom companies in India to provide Starlink services and is in talks with others. Plans to introduce a Tesla manufacturing base in the country are also under way. Similarly, the impact of this suit on overall US-India ties will be small, he said. 'Given all the different tracks of cooperation playing out in the relationship, and given all the goodwill that it enjoys, this X spat is a blip at best and a nuisance at worst. Not to mention, the massive Indian market is far too appealing to pull back from,' he added. 'So no matter how the legal process plays out, X will want to stick it out in India. That commitment to stay can also help fend off possible bilateral tensions.'
