New Delhi:
Meta and Google have said they cannot proactively identify and remove unauthorised recordings of court proceedings on their platforms, arguing they have neither the obligation nor technical ability to screen such content before it is uploaded.
The submissions were made to the Delhi High Court Tuesday in response to a plea against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and other political leaders. The plea alleged they had unlawfully recorded and circulated videos of court proceedings on April 13, when Kejriwal sought the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma from the CBI’s Delhi liquor policy case.
The petitioner alleged the circulation violated court rules and sought their removal from social media platforms.
Meta said intermediaries are under no legal obligation to proactively monitor user-generated content, including unauthorised recordings of court hearings. Google took a similar stand; it said it is impossible to monitor every video uploaded to YouTube.
The company said it neither owns nor controls the user-uploaded content, and cannot determine whether a video is unlawful unless notified. It described itself as a ‘mere intermediary’ and said responsibility, if any, lay with the uploader of the content.
Liability, if any, can only be fastened against the publisher/uploader of the contested content, both companies said.
On April 23, the court had directed the takedown of social media posts containing videos of the court proceedings.
When the matter came up before a division bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, the court noted that several respondents had not yet been served with notices. The hearing was then adjourned to next month.
The petition alleged that Kejriwal and other political leaders circulated recordings of the April 13 hearing to malign the judiciary and create an impression that courts were functioning under political pressure from the central government.
The petitioner also sought a detailed inquiry and action against the leaders for allegedly violating court rules. It further claimed that despite earlier directions, such unauthorised recordings continued to remain available on social media.
Apart from Kejriwal, the plea named AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Sanjeev Jha, Punardeep Sawhney, Jarnail Singh, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Vinayy Mishra, as well as the Congress’ Digvijaya Singh and journalist Ravish Kumar.
