The Delhi High Court has restrained Facebook India, WhatsApp, Google India and YouTube from publishing, broadcasting or distributing “any defamatory material including the photograph in question” of L Sasikala Pushpa, an expelled member of the AIADMK party and an MP, following an allegation from Pushpa that morphed photos and videos of her were being uploaded to online platforms, reports PTI (in Huffington Post). MediaNama checked, and a copy of the order hasn't yet been uploaded online on the Delhi High Court website. According to the report, the HC has also asked for her photos to be taken down immediately, stating “such alleged material is likely to cause irreversible grave and irreparable prejudice to the fair name and reputation of the plaintiff”, saying that the platforms, the defendants, were obliged to remove such material. Pushpa had pleaded that the platforms did not ‘make an attempt to verify the authenticity of the photographs before uploading them.’ MediaNama's take (Nikhil adds) Platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have protection under Section 79 of the IT Act, wherein they are required to take down content only upon complaint, backed by a court order. If these companies are held responsible for what users publish, broadcast or distribute via their platforms (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook), then they'll have to ascertain the legality of each piece of content. That is unsustainable and impossible, given that billions of updates take place every day: they're intermediaries, not publishers. They don't upload these photos, users do. Now they can be held responsible if…
