X Tells Delhi High Court Police Orders Seeking Removal of Free Speech Accounts Were Fake

Social media platform X has told the Delhi High Court that purported police orders seeking the removal of accounts belonging to two prominent Indian digital rights organisations were fake. The company said an internal investigation found that the requests had been submitted by someone impersonating a senior Delhi Police officer.

The disclosure was made during court proceedings on November 6, following public criticism of the notices targeting the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in). The disputed orders, submitted through X’s online reporting system, alleged that the organisations had defamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The notices had invoked Indian content removal rules requiring social media platforms to act within three hours. X had forwarded the requests to the affected organisations before establishing that they were fraudulent.

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Fake Police Orders Submitted Through X’s Reporting System

According to Reuters, the disputed takedown requests were submitted in the name of a senior Delhi Police officer and sought the removal of accounts operated by IFF and SFLC.in.

The notices claimed that the organisations had defamed the RSS, the Hindu nationalist organisation from which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party emerged.

During the hearing, a lawyer representing X informed the Delhi High Court that the company had investigated the requests and found that they did not originate from the police.

The lawyer said someone had impersonated Delhi Police to submit the orders through the platform’s reporting mechanism.

Delhi Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter, according to Reuters.

Digital Rights Groups Challenge Takedown Notices in Court

The Internet Freedom Foundation had approached the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the purported takedown orders after the notices triggered criticism on social media.

Amnesty and India’s main opposition party also questioned the legality of the requests.

According to the petition, the two organisations had received separate legal notices the previous week, purportedly issued on behalf of the RSS. Those notices demanded that they stop criticising and documenting government-issued online blocking orders.

The disputed police requests subsequently sought removal of the organisations’ accounts on X, raising concerns about the use of official reporting channels to target digital rights groups.

X’s disclosure that the police orders were fake emerged during proceedings concerning the legal challenge to those requests.

Incident Raises Questions Over Online Takedown Procedures

The incident has drawn attention to India’s online content removal framework and the processes used by social media companies to assess requests submitted in the name of law enforcement agencies.

The purported orders invoked rules requiring platforms to respond to certain content removal notices within three hours. However, X forwarded the requests to the affected users before determining that the documents were not genuine.

Digital rights activists have repeatedly argued that India’s strict content removal regulations can be used to restrict dissent and lawful expression.

The Indian government maintains that its directives are intended to address unlawful or misleading online content while respecting lawful expression.

The dispute comes amid wider concerns over online speech regulation in India, which has more than 1.1 billion internet subscribers.

X’s statement before the Delhi High Court establishes that the company considers the disputed police orders fraudulent. The available report does not identify the person responsible for submitting them or indicate whether any criminal proceedings have been initiated over the impersonation.