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X cannot cite safe harbour provision to refuse joining Sahyog portal: Delhi HC

Scroll | February 8, 2026 2:41 AM CST

The Delhi High Court on Friday observed that social media platform X cannot cite the existing safe harbour provision under the Information Technology Act to refuse joining the Sahyog portal set up by the Union government, the Hindustan Times reported.

The safe harbour provision under Section 79(3)(b) of the Act states that online intermediaries, such as social media platforms, can lose their safe harbour status if they fail to remove or disable access to content that is used to commit an “unlawful act”, despite being told to do so by the authorities.

Removing this status would mean that the platforms would be liable for the content in question.

Sahyog is a portal set up by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre to streamline orders to take down content allegedly being used to commit an unlawful act. The portal was launched in 2024.

X had previously described it as a “censorship portal” and claimed that the Information Technology Act does not contain any provision to create such a portal, or to require social platforms to appoint a nodal officer for it.

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