BENGALURU — The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Xscore, the Indian subsidiary of Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), challenging the Indian government’s content moderation mechanism and its Sayog Portal.

The bench led by Justice N. Nagaprasanna ruled that regulation of social media is essential, rejecting X’s argument that the portal lacks statutory authority. The court emphasized that “unregulated speech under the guise of liberty results in lawlessness,” upholding the government’s powers under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

X had argued that Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act — dealing with intermediary liability — was being misused to enforce takedowns beyond its original purpose. The company also accused the government of using the Sayog Portal to issue illegal content-blocking orders.

The court dismissed these claims, stating that American free speech standards cannot be applied in India and that social media platforms must respect domestic law. “The Indian marketplace cannot be treated as a playground for defiance of statutes,” the ruling noted.

The decision comes after months of tension between X and the government. On July 3, 2025, authorities ordered the platform to block 2,355 accounts, including that of Reuters, while in May 2025, X was directed to block over 8,000 accounts.