Elon Musk's X sues Indian government over content regulation

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), has filed a lawsuit against the Indian government, accusing it of misusing legal provisions to impose unlawful censorship. The case highlights ongoing tensions between tech giants and India's strict content regulations as Musk’s other ventures, Starlink and Tesla, prepare to enter the Indian market.

India, the world’s largest democracy, is consistently among the top five countries requesting content removals from social media platforms. X argues that the Indian government has been exploiting legal loopholes to silence dissent without proper safeguards. "According to X, this provision... is being misused to create an unlawful parallel mechanism for blocking information," reported Indian legal website Bar and Bench.

The case will be heard in Karnataka’s High Court on March 27 after an initial hearing failed to reach a resolution. This isn’t the first time X has clashed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.

In 2023, an Indian court fined X $61,000 after rejecting its challenge against government orders to remove tweets critical of Modi. In 2024, X reaffirmed that its appeal against government-ordered bans on specific accounts and posts is still pending. "Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency," X said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes at a critical time for Musk, as Tesla and Starlink prepare to expand into the Indian market. With India being the world’s fifth-largest economy, Musk is eyeing a massive business opportunity, but regulatory tensions over free speech could complicate those plans.

Critics argue that India's opaque censorship policies enable political control over online discourse, while the government insists these measures are necessary for national security and public order.

As the Karnataka High Court prepares to hear X’s case, the outcome could set a major precedent for online freedom in India—and influence the future relationship between Big Tech and Modi’s administration.