Glorification Of Lawlessness Through Social Media, Reels 'Dangerous': Karnataka HC Orally Observes In X's Plea Against Centre's Sahyog Portal

X Corp has filed a petition before the Karnataka High Court, seeking protection from any coercive action against the company, its representatives or employees, for not joining the censorship portal 'Sahyog', till the final adjudication of its petition. 'Sahyog' Portal has been developed to automate the process of sending take down notices under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, to intermediaries by the appropriate government or its agency, to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act. The petition seeks a direction to various ministries of the Union of India from taking coercive or prejudicial action against X in relation to any 'Information Blocking Orders' issued other than those issued in accordance with section 69A of the IT Act, read with the blocking rules. In essence, X's contention is that various officers of the Union Ministries are issuing notices to it under Section 79 of the IT for taking down content, which are in effect 'blocking orders' under Section 69A of the Act. X argues that the government cannot issue blocking orders under Section 79, by bypassing the procedure required to be followed under Section 60 of the Act.