Notices purportedly issued at police’s behest for takedown of IFF, SFLC accounts fake, X tells HC

X cited an internal investigation and said it showed that the notices had not been issued by the Delhi Police

X Corp (formerly Twitter) on Friday told the Delhi high court that the notices purportedly issued to it at the behest of the Delhi Police, seeking takedown of the accounts of digital rights groups Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) and certain posts, were fake and not genuine.

X’s counsel told a bench of Justice Amit Mahajan that no action would be taken against the two organisations pursuant to the notices. The counsel submitted that X conducted an internal investigation, which showed that the notices had not been issued by the Delhi Police.

The company informed the court that it had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police regarding the fake notices. The submission was made in the petitions filed by IFF and SLFC challenging the purported notices.

SLFC, through advocate Nakul Gandhi, challenged the purported October 31 and November 2 notices, concerning the takedown of its X account and certain posts.

The SFLC submitted that it received the notices on October 29 and November 1 from an individual claiming to represent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), demanding that it cease documenting and publicising instances of online censorship in India.

It stated that the Special Commissioner of Delhi Police issued notices to X on October 31 and November 2, seeking the withholding of allegedly illegal content, including URLs linked to the organisation’s account.

The petitioners said the authenticity of the notices remained unverified. SLFC’s petition said it sought to verify the authenticity of the notices from Delhi Police and X, their origin, authorisation and authenticity, but could not get them confirmed. The court noted X’s statement and closed the petition.