Censorship – Social Media

The Delhi High Court has directed social media giants such as Facebook, Google and YouTube to take down videos that contain alleged “slanderous and defamatory” statement about Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. moved the court after the social media giants declined its request to remove the alleged defamatory contents without an order of the court.

The petition complained that one Meera Kumar, ex-employee of Divya Pharmacy, a subsidiary of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, was using social media platforms to defame the company. Senior advocate Rajiv Nayyar, appearing for Patanjali, contended that his client “found videos containing slanderous, defamatory and absolutely false statements about plaintiffs, uploaded, disseminated and shared” on the social media sites. Mr. Nayyar submitted that Ms. Kumar was an ex-employee whose services were terminated on May 18 last year and she was indulging in “nefarious campaign to defame” his client.