Centre issued 62 takedown orders in April, May: X

HAS CONTENTED THAT X HAS WRONGLY LABELLED SAHYOG PORTAL AS A TOOL FOR CENSORSHIP

- Sejal Sharma

Social media platform X has disclosed that the government successfully issued over 62 emergency blocking orders in April and May, targeting 12,000 URLs and 10,500 accounts, as evidence that existing legal frameworks are adequate and the government doesn't need controversial parallel mechanisms to regulate content.

The number of orders, issued ata time of heightened tensions following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and India’s Operation Sindoor that struck terror bases in Pakistan in the weeks after, was disclosed in X’s submissions filed on July 7 in the Karnataka high court, where it has challenged the government's use of the Sahyog portal and Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act to issue content takedown orders, arguing these mechanisms are unconstitutional and bypass proper legal safeguards.