Take down fake clips on health of Aaradhya: HC tells Google
Justice C Hari Shankar ordered Google to take down videos from nine YouTube channels and other websites that published fake news about Aaradhya’s health and told the tech giant that it cannot shrug off its responsibility to screen content uploaded to its platforms since it was profiting from it. Google is the parent company of YouTube.
Every child is entitled to be treated with honour and respect and dissemination of misleading information in respect of a child’s health is “completely impermissible in law”, the Delhi high court said on Thursday as it directed Google to take down from its platforms certain videos which claimed that Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai’s daughter Aaradhya was “critically ill” and “no more”.
Justice C Hari Shankar ordered Google to take down videos from nine YouTube channels and other websites that published fake news about Aaradhya’s health and told the tech giant that it cannot shrug off its responsibility to screen content uploaded to its platforms since it was profiting from it. Google is the parent company of YouTube.
The judge also directed the ministry of electronics and information technology to block access to all the content uploaded by the YouTube channels as well as to other videos or clips containing similar content.
The court’s observations came on a plea by 11-year-old Aaradhya Bachchan who complained about nine YouTube videos making false claims about her health and alleging she was “critically ill”. The suit filed by law firm Anand and Naik also said that one of the videos claimed the minor is “no more”.
“Every child is entitled to be treated with honour and respect, whether he/she is the child of a celebrity or a commoner. Circulating information with respect to the mental and physical health of the child is completely impermissible in law,” the court observed, underlining that such conduct against a child was “intolerable”.
“Though it’s not the first time such misleading information is circulated for celebrities, the videos of the child reflects a morbid perversity on part of those who are circulating with complete apathy to the interests of the child in question,” the court added.
The judge emphasised that Google was making money from the activities on YouTube and, therefore, besides ensuring compliance with the law, it also has a social responsibility to ensure such content is not shared on its platform.
“If you are making money out of what you are doing, you have a social responsibility. You can’t allow such things to be posted on your platform. You acknowledge that there are certain things for which you have zero tolerance. Why should this not fall in that category? That means your policy is faulty,” the judge told Google after its counsel said they do not screen videos that are uploaded on their platform.
The court also directed YouTube to give details of the users from whose accounts the objectionable content has been posted, including the details of their subscribers.
Counsel for Google lawyer Mamta Jha said while it cannot actively monitor all the content being shared on its YouTube platform, there is a mechanism in place to take steps against videos that are contrary to its policy. Jha said despite being a neutral platform, Google has a “zero tolerance policy” for certain content such as child pornography.
Justice Shankar disapproved of the circulation of misinformation about Aaradhya on the platform, remarking that Google was duty-bound to follow the legal framework for intermediaries on dissemination and regulation of information.
The court directed Google to file a response to the plaint and an interim relief application stating in detail its policy on dealing with such objectionable content in view of intermediary rules and amendments and said it will examine if the policy is sufficient to ensure compliance with the rules.
The high court will take up the case next on July 13.