PM Modi, Elon Musk at odds over X censorship in India

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Bangalore/New Delhi: In January, Elon Musk’s social media platform, an old post on X, has caused concern for police in the Indian city of Satara. Written in 2023, in a short message of an account with a few hundred followers, a senior ruling party politician was described as “useless”.

The post, which is online, is among the hundreds of people who have been presented in a case filed against the Indian government in March, which challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to a tremendous crackdown on social media content.

Since 2023, India has promoted police efforts on the Internet by allowing many more officials to file a tech down order and submit them directly to the tech firms through an official website launched in October.

X says India’s actions are illegal and unconstitutional, and that they empower several government agencies and thousands of police to suppress the legitimate criticism of government officials.

India claims in court documents that its view is dealt with by the spread of illegal material and ensures online accountability. It says many tech companies, including Meta and Alphabet Google, support its actions. Both companies refused to comment on the story.

Musk, who calls himself the absolute speech of an independent speech, has clashed with authorities over compliance with the United States, Brazil, Australia and elsewhere. But since the regulators weigh the concerns of free speech against concerns about harmful content globally, the Musk case against Modi’s government in Karnataka targets the entire base of tough Internet censorship in India, one of the largest X.

Musk said in 2023 that the South Asian nation had a “promise more than any major country in the world” and that Modi had forced him to invest there.

This account behind the veil between the world’s richest man and the world’s most populous country is based on a 2,500 -page writer review of non -public legal filing and interviewed with seven police officers involved in content removal requests.

This shows the tasks of a tech -down system rotating in confidentiality, with some Indian officials more than “illegal” content on X, and police and other agencies have tried to censor.

Although the talks orders include many people, who tried to counter the misinformation, they are also instructed by the Modi administration to remove the news about a deadly fugitive, and call on the state police to clear the cartoon, which has shown the prime minister inappropriately.

X did not answer writers’ questions about the case, while the Indian IT ministry refused to comment on it because the matter was before the court. Modi’s office and his ministry did not answer questions.

There are no immediate signs of accelerating personal relations between Kasturi and Modi, who have enjoyed public rape. But the exhibition has emerged as a Branching person in South Africa, whose business empire includes EV -maker Tesla and satellite internet provider starlinks, ready to extend both projects in India.

Even Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters have faced their online music examination by the newly empowered police officers by the IT ministry to target social media activity.

A lawyer and a BJP member, Kosta Bagchi, posted a photo on X in March, showing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a rival in a astronaut. The state police issued a tech down notice, citing “public security and national security risks”.

Bagchi told Reuters that the post, which is still online, was a “light heart” and was not aware of the tech down order. The Chief Minister’s Office and the State Police did not answer the writers’ questions.

Earlier in the post of 2023, Satara police officer Shahani told Reuters that he could not remember the tech down order, but said the police sometimes asked the platform to stop aggressive viral content.

Responsible companies

For years, only India’s IT and Information and Broadcasting Ministries can order the removal of content, and only the dangers of sovereignty, defense, security, foreign relations, public discipline or provocation. About 9999 officials can recommend techdowns across India, but the ministries have finalized.

Although this mechanism is intact, Modi’s Ministry of Ministry empowers all federal and state agencies and police in 2023 to issue a tech down notices for “prohibited information under any law”. The ministry cited the need to remove “effective” content, saying in a directive that they could do so under the current legal provisions.

Companies that fail to comply may lose immunity for user content, which can make them responsible for the penalties that the user may face – which can be very different in terms of the specific content posted.

Modi’s government went one step further in October 2024. He launched a website for cooperation in Sahiyag – Hindi, to “facilitate” the issuance of tech notices, and ask Indian officials and social media firms to join the board, showing a memo in court papers.

X -Sahiyag did not join, which he called the “censorship portal”, and tried the government earlier this year, which challenged the legal base for both the new website and the IT ministry’s 2023.

In filing June 24, X said some blocking orders issued by officials “target the ruling government’s humor or criticism, and show a model of the misuse of the authority to suppress free speech.”

Supporters of some independent speeches have criticized the government’s rigorous tech downside government, saying it was designed to stop the disagreement.

“Can it be claimed that some material is illegal, it can be just as illegal because the government claims?” Subata Clawra University’s Markcola Center for Applied Ethics, Director of Journalism and Media Ethics, said Subramaniam Vincent.

“Executive branch may not be a mediator of media content, and there may not be both the tech notice issuers.”

‘Hosting illegal content’

Reuters reviewed judicial circle states that federal and state agencies have ordered the removal of 1,400 posts or accounts to X between March 2024 and June 2025.

More than 70 % of the removal of them was issued by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, which created the Sehog website. The agency is within the Interior Ministry, headed by Modi’s assistant Amit Shah, who is a powerful BJP personality.

To counter the X in court, the Indian government filed a 92 -page report through the Cyber Crime Unit, hosted “illegal content” to disclose X. The unit analyzed about 300 300 posts, which is considered illegal, which includes misconduct, fraud, and children’s sexual abuse content.

The agency said in the report, X acts as a vehicle for “spreading hatred and distribution”, which threatens social harmony, while “fake news” on the platform has given rise to illegal law and order issues.

The government’s response to X’s litigation highlights examples of false information.

In January, the Cyber Crime Unit asked X to remove the three posts in which officials have said that the photos have been produced, including Shah’s son, the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah, “in a derogatory manner” presented with a bikini -hidden woman. The notices state that the posts contain “dishonesty and VIPs”.

Two of these posts are online. Jay Shah did not answer Writers’ questions.

Other instructions went beyond targeting fake news.

X told the court that the Indian Railway Ministry is issuing orders to censor press reports on public interest issues. These include February Directors, which are seeking to remove the letters through some media outlets, including two Adani Group’s NDTV, which had coverage of stamps at New Delhi’s largest railway station, killing 18.

NDTV posts are still online. NDTV did not answer writers’ questions and the Ministry of Railways refused to comment.

In April, in Chennai, police told X to remove many “deep aggressive” and “provocative” posts, including the now -accessing cartoon, called the Red Dinosaur labeled “inflation”, which called for Modi and Tamil Nadu State’s prices.

That same month, the police demanded the removal of another cartoon, which made fun of the state government’s flood preparation by showing a boat with holes. X told the judge that the cartoon was posted in November, and that several months later, “could not incite political tension”, as Chennai police stressed. The post lives online.

The state government did not respond to the request to comment.

When Writers visited the Chennai Cyber Crime Police Station, which issued the instructions, Deputy Commissioner B Gatha criticized X for criticizing the teching requests.

He said X “did not fully capture cultural sensitivity”. “In some countries, what may be acceptable can be considered forbidden in India.”