New Delhi, April 11 -- The Union government and Delhi Police informed the Delhi High Court that X Corp's safe harbour protection is liable to be withdrawn because it failed to remove tweets by journalist Rana Ayyub allegedly insulting Hindu deities, despite statutory notices from the Delhi Police and judicial orders, and has been facilitating the dissemination of unlawful content.

The safe harbour 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 posted on their platforms. This protection applies only if intermediaries follow due diligence and promptly remove unlawful content upon receiving court or government...