Elon Musk's X takes down political posts of AAP, Jagan Reddy's party on EC order, but says we don't agree

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (previously Twitter) to remove certain posts in India containing political speeches from elected politicians, political parties, and candidates. The ECI stated that these posts violated the model code of conduct and must be taken down.

According to a TOI report, X complied with the ECI's orders and restricted access to the posts in question in India. The platform expressed disagreement with the ECI's actions, advocating for expanded freedom of expression for political speech. X has notified affected users and published the takedown orders on its platform for transparency.

“The Election Commission of India has issued takedown orders requiring X to act on posts containing political speech shared from elected politicians, political parties and candidates for office. In compliance with the orders, we have withheld these posts for the remainder of the election period; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts and political speech in general,” X stated.


In its statement, X said, “We have notified the affected users and in the interest of transparency, we are publishing the takedown orders here. We call on the Election Commission to publish all of its takedown orders going forward.”


Social media platform X (previously Twitter), had also revealed that in compliance with the Election Commission of India (ECI) orders, it has removed several social media posts from a number of political leaders and parties. The posts taken down included those from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), YSR Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu, as well as Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and state BJP president Samrat Choudhary.

The ECI requested the removal of one post each from the YSRCP and Naidu on April 2 for violating Model Code of Conduct (MCC) guidelines. Additionally, separate requests on April 2 and April 3 were made for the removal of posts by the AAP and Choudhary, citing violations of the same MCC provisions.

Elon Musk's Visit to India: Plans for Tesla's Electric Vehicle Manufacturing

Elon Musk, the owner of X, is scheduled to visit India soon. He will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is expected to unveil plans for manufacturing Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) in India. Musk announced his visit on X with the message, "Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!"


This visit comes during the peak of India's Lok Sabha election season. According to Reuters, Tesla officials were also expected to visit India to explore sites for a potential manufacturing facility, with a potential investment of $2 billion in the country.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: India to Witness Seven-Phase Polling

India is gearing up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4, and the results will be announced thereafter.

With a record number of registered voters, this election is set to be one of the largest democratic exercises globally. A total of 968 million voters, including 497 million men and 471 million women, are expected to participate in voting process.

(With inputs from TOI)