American technology company Google has informed the Delhi High Court that it is neither legally required nor technically capable of proactively monitoring YouTube to prevent the upload, re-upload or circulation of unauthorised recordings of court proceedings.
In an affidavit filed before the High Court, Google submitted that any direction requiring social media platforms to prevent the recurrence or future dissemination of unauthorised recordings of judicial proceedings would be legally untenable and practically impossible to implement.
The company argued that recordings were created outside YouTube and that it had no mechanism to determine whether a particular video contained court proceedings, whether the recording was authorised, or whether it violated any applicable law. It added that rules governing recording and dissemination of court proceedings vary across different courts in India, making it impossible for an intermediary to independently assess the legality of uploaded content.
Google further contended that it cannot be expected to proactively monitor millions of videos uploaded to its platform to identify unauthorised recordings of court proceedings. According to the affidavit, its obligations under Indian law arise only after a competent court identifies specific content as unlawful and directs its removal.
The company stated that it was required to remove or disable access only to videos specifically identified through their Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) after a judicial determination that such content violated applicable law. Beyond those identified URLs, it could not independently search for similar content or determine whether other videos were also unauthorised recordings of court proceedings.
Google also relied on the legal framework governing intermediaries, submitting that the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the applicable intermediary liability regime did not require platforms to actively monitor user-generated content or perform an adjudicatory function. It argued that intermediaries could not be expected to decide whether a complaint seeking removal of third-party content was legally valid, as the determination of the legality or legitimacy of content fell exclusively within the jurisdiction of a competent court.
The affidavit has been filed in response to a petition instituted by Advocate Vaibhav Singh seeking action against individuals who allegedly recorded and uploaded videos of proceedings before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma during a hearing in which former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal personally addressed the court on his application seeking the judge’s recusal in the Delhi excise policy case.
According to the petition, several videos of the hearing surfaced on YouTube and other social media platforms shortly after the proceedings concluded. The petitioner further sought directions requiring social media intermediaries to prevent unauthorised recordings of court proceedings from being uploaded or circulated online in the future.
During earlier hearings in April, the High Court had expressed concern over the unauthorised recording and dissemination of court proceedings, observing that the issue affected the larger institutional interests of the judiciary and required effective safeguards to prevent misuse.
Google informed the Court that all the videos specifically identified by the petitioner have already been removed or blocked for users in India in compliance with the applicable legal process. However, it maintained that imposing a continuing obligation to detect and prevent future uploads of similar content would be inconsistent with the statutory framework governing intermediaries and impossible to implement at scale.
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