The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on the operation of a takedown notice issued by the Cyber Crime Wing of the Tamil Nadu police directing X Corp to suspend or block 18 URLs and social media posts, including content shared by YouTuber Maridhas.
A Division Bench comprising Justices L. Victoria Gowri and N. Senthilkumar passed the interim order while hearing a writ petition filed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) office-bearer P. Chockalingam, who challenged the legality of the notice issued by the Cyber Crime Wing.
BREAKING Justices L. Victoria Gowri and N. Senthilkumar of #MadrasHighCourt stay the operation of a notice issued by the Cyber Crime Wing of Tamil Nadu police asking X Corp to suspend/ block 18 URLs/posts including those shared by YouTuber Maridhas. The interim stay is granted…
— Mohamed Imranullah S (@imranhindu) May 13, 2026
The disputed notice had been issued by the Tamil Nadu police on May 8 under intermediary liability provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. X Corp was directed to suspend or block the flagged URLs/posts within three hours.
According to sources familiar with the matter, a majority of the posts targeted by the notice allegedly contained criticism of the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay. The inclusion of posts shared by political commentators and YouTubers, including Maridhas, triggered widespread debate online over freedom of speech and the use of cybercrime provisions against government critics.
The police action had drawn sharp criticism from several netizens and free speech advocates, who alleged that the takedown order amounted to suppression of dissent and criticism directed at the newly formed government.
During the hearing, the petition challenged the validity of the police notice and raised concerns over the scope of powers exercised under the IT Rules for directing content removal on social media platforms.
Following preliminary submissions, the Bench granted an interim stay on the operation of the notice, effectively halting enforcement of the takedown directions issued to X Corp until further proceedings in the case.
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