The Union government and the Delhi Police have told the Delhi High Court that the safe harbor protection of X Corp may be withdrawn as it failed to remove tweets by journalist Rana Ayyub allegedly insulting Hindu gods, despite legal notices from the Delhi Police and judicial orders, and is also facilitating the dissemination of illegal content.
The safe harbor provision under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000 protects online intermediaries, such as social media platforms, from legal liability for user-generated content published on their platforms. This protection only applies if brokers follow due diligence and promptly remove illegal content upon receiving court or government orders or gaining actual knowledge of such illegal material.
Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries lose this immunity if they fail to remove or disable access to illegal content after receiving “actual knowledge” or notification from a court or government authority. This provision requires intermediaries to remove or block access to such content within 36 hours of receiving a court order or government directive declaring the content to be obscene, prohibited, or otherwise illegal.
The joint memorandum filed by the Union government and Delhi Police on Friday also said that For a recognizable crime.
It added that X also failed to remove the tweets even after receiving notices from Delhi Police in September and December 2025 requesting the removal of the content.
“It is submitted that Rule 07 of the Information Technology Rules, 2021 expressly provides that failure to observe due diligence would disentitle the intermediary from claiming exemption from liability under Section 79(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. It is also contended that in the instant case, despite receipt of ‘actual knowledge’ by way of a judicial order, as well as legal notices issued by the law enforcement agency, i.e. Delhi Police, the intermediary i.e. ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) failed to remove illegal content from its platform.
“It is pertinent to note that this inaction amounts to non-compliance with the due diligence requirements stipulated in the applicable rules and facilitates the continued commission of illegal acts by its user, i.e. Rana Ayyub (Respondent No. 04) and as a result, the intermediary safe harbor protection available under Section 79(1) is liable to be withdrawn,” it added.
The memorandum was filed in a petition preferred by advocate Amita Sachdeva seeking deletion of the six tweets posted by Rana Ayyub from 2013 to 2017. On Wednesday, the court directed the Centre, Delhi Police lawyer Rajat Nair and X (formerly Twitter) to take appropriate action in relation to Rana Ayyub’s tweets which she described as “highly insulting”, “sectarian” and “inflammatory” in nature.
In this regard, the memorandum said that the Delhi Police on Thursday wrote to the Center to block Ayub’s tweets, and the Center has already initiated action under the law.
X Corp, in its affidavit opposing Sachdeva’s plea, said that on February 28, it had submitted the required information to the Delhi Police in response to notices seeking details of Ayub’s X account. It also said that the court should direct the Center and Delhi Police to follow the procedure prescribed under the Information Technology Act to block online content since Ayub’s posts are directly covered under the headings of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The said provision enables the government to directly block public access to online content in certain circumstances, including when it affects public order, defense of India and security of the state and constitutes incitement to commit any cognizable offence. The affidavit also stated that the petition was not maintainable against X since it is not a state and does not perform public functions to be subject to the court’s jurisdiction.
The case was postponed to the May 19 session after the court granted Ayoub a deadline to respond to the responses of the Center and X.
