Can social media platform X refuse to join the Sahyog portal for investigations?

No, the Delhi High Court has stated that X platform cannot claim exemption from joining the Sahyog portal in cases involving crime or police investigations.

What is the Sahyog portal?

The Sahyog portal is designed to automate notices to intermediaries under the IT Act and speed up the removal of unlawful content, with over 60 intermediaries already participating.

Do safe harbor provisions exempt X from cooperating with law enforcement?

The Delhi High Court indicated that existing safe harbor provisions do not provide protection to the extent that platforms can refuse to cooperate in cases of crime.

Home / Crime and Justice / Delhi Court: Social Media Must Aid Police Probes

Delhi Court: Social Media Must Aid Police Probes

8 Feb

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Summary

X platform cannot claim exemption from crime investigation portal.
Safe harbor protections do not shield platforms from cooperation.
Court notes impracticality of individual platform data requests.

Delhi Court: Social Media Must Aid Police Probes

The Delhi High Court has stated that social media platform X must join the Sahyog portal for crime investigations and cannot claim exemption. The court's bench, comprising Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma, indicated that 'safe harbour' protections available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act do not extend to refusing cooperation with law enforcement.

This directive came during a hearing concerning X Corp's plea to be discharged from proceedings related to delays in providing information to the Delhi Police. The case originated from a habeas corpus petition monitoring the efforts to find a 19-year-old missing since January 10, 2024.

X Corp argued it had cooperated and separately challenged the Sahyog portal directive at the Karnataka High Court. However, the Delhi High Court bench pointed out the severe inefficiency of investigators contacting each of the numerous platforms individually.