Elon Musk’s X is once again clashing with a foreign government over its censorship policies.
X is accusing the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “unlawfully” targeting free speech, according to a new court filing from X. The Indian IT ministry “expanded [its] censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered ‘countless’ government officials to execute such orders,” Reuters reported, and X responded with the lawsuit.
At issue is a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) website, which can reportedly be used for issuing orders to block content online, and to force Big Tech companies to participate in the initiative. X stated in the lawsuit that “MHA created a Censorship Portal to allow countless central and state agencies and local police officers to issue information blocking orders.”
This controversial website, according to X, does not employ the legal “safeguards” which the country imposes on censorship. For example, the government could block serious breaches online such as threats to Indian sovereignty and security and the law requires careful oversight from important Indian officials, according to X’s lawsuit. The expansion seems potentially designed to suppress even speech that is not clearly dangerous.
X objected to more than one change. “The MHA also sent a letter to X Corp. demanding that it appoint a ‘Nodal Officer’ to ensure compliance with the unlawful blocking orders that will be issued through the Censorship Portal,” X criticized. “Respondents' unlawful actions and the Censorship Portal will result in significant and unrestrained censorship of information in India.”
Hence, X labels the website as creating “an impermissible parallel mechanism" for "unrestrained censorship of information in India.” X’s account for India has not apparently made a comment on the lawsuit.
Unfortunately, India isn’t the first country to pressure X to censor. X last year battled with the Brazilian government’s chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes over his anti-free speech crackdown. After a period of pushing back against the censorious Brazilian government, X was allowed to return to the country last fall.
Free speech is under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech and government be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for alternative viewpoints. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
