X suing the Indian government? Oh yes, that’s what we came to know really recently. But what really happened that it all came to this point? The thing is, X believes that the government of India is after them and unfairly forcing them to remove posts and other content without even following proper legal procedure, and that’s the part they’re most concerned about. Like, Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X only for the reason that everyone can express themselves on this platform and it should be a platform for absolute free speech. And this action of the Indian government goes against that. That’s the reason why we’re seeing this Musk Government Authority Lawsuit in action, so, let’s just go over the details of this case.
So, How It All Started In The First Place?
Well, if you think that this drama is just a new one that popped up only in 2025, nah, it is actually going on since 2021. Back then, when it was just Twitter, there were some clashes with the Indian government, mainly on the topic of tweets supporting farmers who were protesting new laws in the country.
The government of India wanted to take down some of those tweets so that the situation wouldn’t worsen in the country. What do you think happened next? Oh yes, Twitter didn’t agree to this first, but they had to give up after so much public pressure.
And it is not like this was just an unofficial thing, this drama has been going on in the courtrooms, and now, we’re in 2025 and X is once again in the court fighting this legal battle with the Indian government.
So, What’s The Real Issue Here?
See, this entire issue has got something to do with 2 sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act. What’s that? Well, the first section is Section 69A, and under this section, it is mentioned that the Indian government can block online content if they want, but not any content. Then? Well, there had to be some serious reason behind it, like national security or public order, and even then, after a proper process is followed, the content can be deleted.
Then there’s Section 79(3)(b). This part is directly there to tell the social media companies that they’ll straight up lose legal protection in India if they don’t take down the content that is asked by the government of India.
Okay, so that means there is no absolute free speech in India, which is understandable. We get it. But X and Elon Musk have a problem with the fact that the Indian government is not even following a procedure to delete the content, they’re just straight at it.
The “Censorship Portal” Drama
Are you aware of the fact that there is an Indian government website that’s called Sahyog? This is the portal that the government is currently using to send take-down requests to social media companies. And the problem Elon Musk and X in general have is that this portal is giving so many government officials too much power to take down or remove posts without any legal checks at all.