Delhi HC seeks response of Union Minister Smriti Irani on pleas by tech giants
Aug 08, 2022
New Delhi [India], August 8 : The Delhi High court on Monday sought the response of Union Minister Smriti Irani on pleas by tech giants Google and Twitter seeking that they be provided with the links to objectionable content against the senior BJP leader that needed to be removed.
The tech giants requested that they were not an adjudicating body and would be prompt in removing objectionable content if the URL links were made available to them.
Justice Mini Pushkarna sought a response from Smriti Irani on the pleas within two weeks. Justice Pushkarna in an order passed last month had directed the Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza to delete and remove their objectionable social media posts against Irani. The court had further directed Google, Twitter and Meta, which owns Facebook, to remove such content "or anything similar thereto" from their platforms.
In their application seeking modification of the earlier order, the tech giants said that they need specific links to remove and the ones, which were available, have been removed.
The plea said that a sword of contempt hangs on them as they were directed to remove the objectionable content, in case the three leaders failed to do so in a week. The court issued notice of the plea and granted two weeks to Irani to respond.
"We are intermediaries. What we require is that plaintiffs may give URLs, we will take them off. If we have doubts, we can inform the plaintiff and the plaintiff can then approach the court. We are not an adjudicating body. We cannot decide what's similar. Plaintiff is under obligation to give me links," the pleas said.
It is pertinent to mention Union Minister Irani had recently moved the Delhi High court against Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and others for alleged defamatory allegations against her daughter. The BJP leader has also sought damages of more than Rs 2 crores.
The Bench not only issued the notice on the petition but also criticised the defendants for making allegations without any basis or substance against her daughter.
