A lawyer representing X (formerly Twitter) stirred controversy in the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday by claiming that “every Tom, Dick, and Harry” government officer has been empowered to issue content takedown orders in India.
The comment drew immediate backlash from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who strongly defended the legitimacy of government actions.
The remark was made by senior advocate KG Raghavan, appearing for X, during a hearing challenging the government’s so-called “censorship portal” — an official platform used to relay takedown directives to social media intermediaries.
Raghavan referred to a recent takedown notice from Indian Railways, which demanded removal of a video showing a car being driven on railway tracks — a clip X considers newsworthy. Questioning the legitimacy of such takedown requests, Raghavan argued:
“This is the danger, My Lord, that is done now, if every Tom, Dick, and Harry officer is authorised.”
He also added, as quoted by LiveLaw,
“Some women drove a car on the railway track… Photos/videos were put up on social media. Can that be unlawful content in this country today?”
The Solicitor General condemned the remark, stating:
“Officers are not Tom, Dick, or Harry… they are statutory functionaries. No social media intermediary can expect completely unregulated functioning.”
Mehta emphasized that the so-called “censorship portal” is merely a compliance platform to notify digital companies of their legal obligations under the IT Act and due diligence rules.
X has been involved in repeated legal tussles with the Indian government over content moderation. Despite complying with several takedown orders, the platform continues to challenge what it sees as state overreach.
The Karnataka High Court has posted the matter for final hearing on July 8 and has allowed X to amend its petition and include various Union ministries as parties.
