Mumbai: Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has filed a lawsuit against the Indian government over its use of takedown orders to remove social media content, marking a significant legal challenge to India’s content regulation policies.

India—recognized as the world’s largest democracy—consistently ranks among the top five countries globally for the number of government requests to take down social media content. X’s lawsuit signals its growing opposition to what it perceives as the Indian government’s overreach in censoring online expression.

The legal case focuses on the government’s application of a key legal provision used to issue blocking orders. X alleges that these orders bypass existing legal safeguards and create an “unlawful parallel mechanism for blocking information,” according to a report by Indian legal news platform Bar and Bench.

The case is scheduled to be heard by the Karnataka High Court on March 27, following a preliminary hearing earlier this week that ended without a resolution.

This is not the first time X has found itself at odds with Indian authorities. In 2023, an Indian court fined the company $61,000 after dismissing its challenge against orders demanding the removal of tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Nearly a year later, X confirmed that its appeal against the government’s blocking orders on “specific accounts and posts” remains pending. In February 2024, X stated, “Consistent with our position, a writ appeal challenging the Indian government's blocking orders remains pending. We have also provided the impacted users with notice of these actions in accordance with our policies.”

X also highlighted concerns over the lack of transparency surrounding these executive orders. “Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency. This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making,” the company noted.

The lawsuit comes at a pivotal time as Musk’s other ventures—Starlink and Tesla—prepare to enter the Indian market. Observers suggest that the outcome of the case could have far-reaching implications, not just for X’s operations in India but also for the broader landscape of digital rights and corporate-government relations in the country.