Amid X owner Elon Musk’s announcement that the social media platform will make government requests to take down content more transparent and visible, a senior Information Technology Ministry official on Tuesday said the platform “will have to comply with Indian law,” reported PTI.
Musk recently announced that X would make government-directed censorship more visible to users by disclosing which government sought a content restriction and the reasons cited for the request.
Asked about the government’s position on X’s proposed transparency measures, the senior official said the platform would have to follow the legal process in India.
“...There is a process... there are two sets of processes. We don't talk about orders we issue specifically under 69 (A) because it is intended to be maintained as confidential,” the official said.
In a recent post on X, Musk said, “any censorship required by governments is now clearly visible”, signalling a move towards greater transparency around government requests for content restrictions.
X and the Indian government have previously clashed over content takedown orders and the scope of free speech on the platform.
In 2024, X complied with government orders to withhold certain accounts and posts linked to the farmers’ protests in India, while publicly disagreeing with the directions. The platform said at the time that such orders amounted to a curtailment of freedom of expression.
Through its Global Government Affairs account, X had argued that a lack of disclosure around government directives could undermine accountability and enable arbitrary decision-making. It had called for greater transparency over such requests.
The platform has also been at odds with the Centre over the Sahyog portal, which facilitates content-blocking directions to social media platforms and other internet intermediaries.
X had criticised the portal as a form of extra-legal censorship, while the government defended it as a mechanism to streamline the process of regulating online content.
(With inputs from PTI)