Overview
- India’s Union government and Delhi Police told the Delhi High Court Friday that X failed to remove six tweets by Rana Ayyub after a court order and police notices, putting the platform’s legal immunity at risk.
- That immunity, called safe harbour under Section 79 of the IT Act, protects platforms from liability only if they follow due diligence and act once they have actual knowledge from a court or the government.
- Following Wednesday’s court remarks that the posts were “highly derogatory, inflammatory and communal,” Delhi Police on April 9 asked the IT ministry to block the tweets under Section 69A, with a Designated Officer now weighing the request.
- X argued the plea cannot be maintained against it because it is not a state body and urged authorities to use the Section 69A process directed at the originator.
- The court gave Ayyub two weeks to reply and set the next hearing for May 19, after noting an FIR was ordered in January 2025 over tweets from 2013 to 2017 under IPC sections 153A, 295A and 505.