India’s SAHYOG Portal Sparks Concerns Over Online Censorship
NEW DELHI, March 28 – Social media platform X has told the Delhi High Court it cannot be compelled to join the Indian government’s SAHYOG portal, raising concerns over potential misuse of the platform to curb online content, court filings showed.
SAHYOG, conceptualized as a coordination mechanism between law enforcement agencies, social media platforms, and telecom providers for faster takedowns of unlawful content, was disclosed by the Union Home Ministry in a court case last year. The initiative follows an October 2023 office memorandum by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which authorized government agencies to block content under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
While Section 79 provides safe harbor protection to intermediaries from liability for third-party content, X argued that the government is using Section 79(3)(b) to bypass the safeguards of Section 69A, which regulates content blocking on grounds such as national security and public order. Section 69A mandates procedural protections, including a designated officer’s approval and independent review.
“SAHYOG could be used as a tool for unchecked censorship,” X argued in its petition, warning that the portal may grant content-blocking powers to multiple government bodies, including state governments and local law enforcement, without the safeguards outlined in existing law.
The petition also cited the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India, which struck down a controversial provision of the IT Act for being vague and arbitrary in restricting free speech. X contends that SAHYOG’s implementation could violate that judgment.
The Delhi and Karnataka High Courts are currently hearing cases challenging SAHYOG’s legal validity. Meanwhile, transparency advocates have called on the government to publicly disclose details about the portal to ensure it does not circumvent established legal frameworks for online content regulation.
