March 21, 2025 - Elon Musk's American social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), has filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court against the Indian government accusing it of illegal content regulation and arbitrary censorship.

The lawsuit, which was filed on March 5, 2025, has alleged that the Ministry of Information Technology has unlawfully expanded its censorship rules to allow easier removal of online content. X has objected to the government's interpretation of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, describing it as an overreach of governmental power. It has claimed that the government is using this provision to weaken online freedom of expression in violation of Supreme Court rulings.

According to sources, this petition was filed after the Railway Ministry issued an order to remove posts related to the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station.

The petition by X says that the Indian government is creating a parallel content-blocking system by bypassing the legal process set out in Section 69A. It claims that this method is contrary to the Supreme Court's 2015 Shreya Singhal case directive which ruled that content can only be blocked through a judicial process or the legally defined procedure under Section 69A.

“This mechanism creates an impermissible parallel system that facilitates unrestrained censorship of information in India,” X reportedly stated in its petition, seeking to have the directive quashed.

According to reports, the case was heard earlier this week in the Karnataka High Court without a decision. The next hearing is slated for March 27.