Justice Tejas Karia of the Delhi High Court has stepped down from presiding over a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning the alleged misuse of Meta’s copyright enforcement process on Instagram. The PIL, initiated by digital content creator Nitin Joshi, highlights issues where creators are reportedly coerced into paying substantial sums to retract false copyright claims and retrieve their suspended social media accounts.
The case, initially scheduled before Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Karia, will now be reassigned. Chief Justice Upadhyaya stated, “List before a bench of which he (Justice Karia) is not a member. Matter will go before another bench.” The hearing is now set for July 28.
Nitin Joshi’s petition raises alarms regarding anonymous offenders, automated accounts, and organized criminal outfits that allegedly exploit Meta’s copyright mechanisms to perpetrate cyber extortion and digital blackmail. The plea underscores the existence of a cyber-extortion network manipulating these procedures to disable or permanently suspend legitimate accounts, followed by demands for hefty ransoms to reverse these actions.
Joshi’s legal representation stressed the significant investment of time and effort by digital creators to cultivate their social media presence. Faced with the potential loss of their accounts, many creators succumb to the extortionists’ demands. The PIL seeks several remedial measures, including the establishment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe these cyber-extortion schemes.
Furthermore, the petition challenges the constitutionality of Rule 3(1)(c) and Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. These rules currently allow account disabling without prior notification. Alternatively, the petitioner advocates for a binding Standard Operating Procedure to address copyright complaints, ensuring prior notice, complainant identity disclosure, and human review before taking permanent action.
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The petition also urges Meta to reinstate Instagram posts or pages suspended without human oversight or prior notice. It calls for a forensic audit of Meta’s automated copyright-strike system and demands the implementation of a fast-track escalation mechanism for extortion or fraud-related complaints. Moreover, it seeks a court order to prevent Meta from further suspending or disabling Instagram accounts without notice and human review during the petition’s pendency.
This legal action has been filed through Advocates Raghav Sethi, Gurmukh Singh Arora, and Tejbir Singh of T&R Law Offices.
