Karnataka HC declines relief to X Corp in plea against Centre's Sahyog portal

Bengaluru, Apr 3 (PTI) The Karnataka High Court on Thursday declined to grant interim relief to X Corp (formerly Twitter) on its plea against the central government’s mandatory onboarding requirement for its 'Sahyog' portal, observing that there is no reason for the company to be apprehensive of any coercive action at this juncture.
The court also said X Corp has been granted the liberty to seek protection if any action was taken against it.
Justice M Nagaprasanna is hearing X Corp’s petition against the government’s directive requiring it to join the Sahyog portal—a platform facilitating content-blocking orders for social media and internet intermediaries.
X Corp has argued that the mechanism lacks the legal safeguards outlined under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. Instead, the government has based its blocking orders on Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, a provision that limits intermediary protections under certain conditions, it contended.
Senior Advocate K G Raghavan, representing X Corp, contended that the Supreme Court upheld the validity of Section 69A in the landmark Shreya Singhal case because of its inbuilt safeguards, including post-decisional hearings.
He sought to know whether the government could bypass these protections by invoking Section 79(3)(b) instead.The counsel further prayed to the court to restrain the government from taking coercive action against X Corp unless its blocking orders strictly adhere to Section 69A.
He emphasised that X Corp was not challenging Indian laws, but rather the way Section 79(3)(b) was being used.
He also pointed out that this provision was read down by the Supreme Court in the Shreya Singhal case and must be interpreted alongside Section 69A.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aravind Kamath, representing the central government, asserted that all intermediaries must comply with Indian laws, including content moderation requirements.
The court pointed to the Centre’s assurance that X Corp need not fear any coercive action at this stage.
Given that the company had already been allowed to seek legal protection if action was taken against it, Justice Nagaprasanna ruled that no further interim relief was necessary at this point.
The case has now been posted for hearing on April 24.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)