A day after the Centre initiated steps to check Grok AI’s allegedly ‘abusive language’, social media platform X has moved the Karnataka High Court against the Union IT ministry, accusing it of misusing the Information Technology (IT) Act to censor and take down content online. Owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, the social media platform also challenged Centre’s Sahyog portal in the petition.
In the plea moved against Centre, the social media platform accused Centre of misusing provisions under the IT laws to censor online content. X argued the Centre is using section 79(3)(b), to create a parallel content-blocking mechanism, bypassing the structured legal process outlined in Section 69A. The social media platform claimed the Centre’s move contradicts the Supreme Court's 2015 order in the Shreya Singhal case.
As per section 79(3)(b), online platforms must remove offensive content from their websites within 36 hours of receiving a court order or government notification. If they fail to comply, the platforms risk losing its safe harbour protection under Section 79(1) and could be held accountable under various laws, PTI reported. X accused the government of misusing the law to impose arbitrary censorship without following due process.
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X has also challenged Centre’s Sahyog portal and said “it acts as a censorship tool that pressures platforms to remove content without proper legal review”. X is yet to onboard an employee on to the portal.
The social media platform’s petition comes a day after the Centre would examine the alleged use of abusive language by Musk’s AI chatbot Grok. Recently, in response to provocative prompts, Grok used Hindi abuses and slang against users. The Union government took notice of this and said they are in touch with the platform over the matter. “We are in touch, we are talking to X authorities to find out why it is happening and what are the issues. They are engaging with us," a senior official told PTI.
