Last week, in X Corp. v. Union of India , the Karnataka High Court upheld the government’s use of the Sahyog portal — a digital platform for content takedown requests. While the court treated Sahyog as a valid administrative tool, its ruling went further: it endorsed a parallel system of takedowns under Section 79(3) of the IT Act, sidestepping the safeguards built into Section 69A. In doing so, it brushed aside the principles of due process recognised by the Supreme Court in its landmark Shreya Singhal judgment. The real issue, however, is not the portal itself but the law behind it: India’s takedown regime is increasingly out of step with the demands of a digital democracy, where both state accountability and citizen rights need stronger guardrails.

It is important to separate th

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