Overview
- Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Amit Sharma orally held that Section 79 protection cannot be used by X to refuse onboarding to the government’s Sahyog portal.
- The observation came in proceedings that grew from a missing-person case, after the court flagged delays in platforms sharing data with police for crimes such as trafficking and drug offenses.
- The judges called it impractical for officers nationwide to seek data from dozens of separate platforms and noted that countries like the US and UK use centralized portals.
- Government counsel said more than 60 intermediaries have joined Sahyog, with X a notable holdout, as the court adjourned to allow detailed filings from the Centre.
- Related challenges continue across courts, including X’s pending appeal against a Karnataka High Court ruling upholding Sahyog and petitions in the Bombay High Court, even as X labels the portal a censorship tool and cites earlier I4C descriptions of it as administrative.