The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed YouTube channels and
Google to take down ‘misleading content’ claiming that Aaradhya Bachchan,
daughter of actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, was
‘critically ill’ and ‘no more '.
The court, while hearing a lawsuit by the minor child and her
father, said spreading misinformation about a child reflects ‘morbid
perversity’.
Justice C Hari Shankar said that every child is entitled to be
treated with honour and respect and dissemination of misleading information
concerning a child's health was "completely intolerable in law".
The court, in the interim order, directed Google(which owns
YouTube) to inform the plaintiff about the details of the uploaders in question
and clarified that similar videos, whenever brought to Google's notice, shall
also be taken down.
"Defendants 1 to 9 (YouTube channels) are completely
restrained from publishing, sharing, and disseminating any content on any
public platform across the net relating to the state of health or physical
condition of the plaintiff," the court said.
The court also said that spreading misinformation about a child
reflects "morbid perversity" and "complete apathy in the
interests of the child". "Defendant no 10 (Google) will immediately
delist and deactivate all videos (mentioned in the plea," it
said.
The court also asked Google to file a response stating in detail
its policy on dealing with such objectionable content on the YouTube platform
in view of intermediary rules. It also directed the Centre to block
access to the content in question and said Google was duty-bound to follow the
legal framework for intermediaries(in accordance with the IT Act).
“The Delhi High Court has recognized that the privacy of young
Aaradya Bachchan needs to be protected, against those that are spreading false
news and are gaining profits from misusing her family name,” said Pravin Anand,
Managing Partner at Anand and Anand.
Aaradhya Bachchan’s plea
The Plaintiffs, Aaradhya Bachchan, a minor, and her guardian and
parent, Abhishek Bachchan, filed a petition against various entities operating
channels on YouTube and other unidentified defendants for creating, uploading,
and sharing of videos that contain, false, defamatory information about the
Plaintiffs.
“The Defendants’ videos use the images of the Plaintiffs, and
other members of the Bachchan family to proclaim that Plaintiff no 1(Aaradhya
Bachchan) is severely unwell; and/or has been admitted to the hospital and/or
has passed away. They also show Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan, and other members of the Bachchan family in poor light, for not
having taken steps to provide prompt medical attention to the minor,” the
petition stated.
The petition was filed on the grounds of violation of the right
to privacy, tarnishing and bringing disrepute to the goodwill vested in the
Bachchan family name, violation of publicity rights, and defamation of the
Plaintiffs
“The sole purpose behind such distasteful content in the
offending videos is to create shock value, gain overnight popularity for the
channels uploading such videos, and profit from the use of the Bachchan family
name. All at the cost of violating the privacy of the Plaintiffs, denigrating
and denting the reputation of the Plaintiffs and their family name,” the plea
said.
The petition also said that 'unless restrained with immediate
orders of injunction that restrain not just the identified videos, but any
other videos which are either identical in content, or which contain similar
content that forms the subject matter of the videos identified herein, the
misleading videos will act as a several headed hydra, which, with each strike
of the sword, will continue to develop more heads and cause further
menace'.