Delhi HC’s strong directive, restrains YouTube channels from sharing Aaradhya’s videos

The Delhi High Court on Thursday restrained certain YouTube channels from disseminating and transmitting any videos with false claims in relation to Amitabh Bachchan’s 11-year-old granddaughter, Aaradhya Bachchan. During the hearing on a case by Aaradhya, Justice C Hari Shankar observed that "no identical video can be created or published".

The court reprimanded the video platform YouTube for the dissemination of misleading information related to a child and termed videos on a Youtube channel for spreading fake news about her health as completely “intolerable in the name of the law”.

Delhi HC issues strong directives in Aaradhya Bachchan case

The Court issued strong directives stating, "The defendants 1-9 and their associates or agents are restrained from disseminating or further transmitting the videos relating to the URLs identified in the application. Defendants are also restrained from publishing or sharing any videos which are identical or similar in content to the videos falling subject matter of the said URLs. It is clarified that this would encompass all videos dealing with the physical condition of the plaintiff".

The Delhi HC further directed Google to expose the identity of the defendants to Bachchan’s and immediately take stern action to deactivate the URLs mentioned in the plaint. "Google LLC shall reveal to plaintiff and place on affidavit identity details of Defendants 1-9 including basic subscriber information and IP address information presently available with it. Google will immediately delist the videos contained in the application".

"On the plaintiff bringing to Google's notice any other video uploaded on the YouTube platform dealing with the physical health of plaintiff, it will immediately proceed to take down the said URL. Plaintiff will however be required to bring this fact to the notice of this court," the court observed. 

The court also instructed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to "Block Access" to all aforesaid uploaded content or similar content on plaintiff bringing to their notice. "Meity is directed to ensure disabling of access to block access to content uploaded by defendants 1-9 as well as to any other similar videos or clips containing similar content on the plaintiff bringing it to their notice.

As per the Delhi HC's order, this compliance had to be enforced within a period of one week from today (April 20).

The Delhi High Court’s razor-sharp observations come in the backdrop of the ongoing debate of whether tech giants need to step forth and take responsibility for the content hosted on their platforms. YouTube, which at an average hosts an estimated average of 2,500 fresh videos per minute on a daily basis, has been hauled up for what may be seen as an arms-length approach vis-a-vis the content of the videos themselves.

With the revision of the IT rules and India adopting a strong outlook to ensure responsibility is taken with precision and the policies of big tech platforms are revised in tune with the law of the land, the latest Delhi High Court observations re-iterate the commitment that New India has adopted vis-a-vis cyber security and responsibility.