Khushi Doshi
Published On: February 02, 2022 at 16:40 IST
Delhi High Court issued a Notice on Tuesday, based on a Petition filed against Google by a Youtuber who claims to have over 1 million subscribers, for failing to comply with the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 while discontinuing two of his Youtube channels.
Justice V Kameswar Rao requested a response from the Centre and Google before posting them for further hearing to March 30, when a similar issue involving intermediaries under the IT Rules, in Sanjay Hegde’s Twitter account suspension case is scheduled to be heard.
The Petition was filed by Rachit Kaushik, creator of two Youtube channels famously known as “Sabloktantra” and “Truth and Dare”. The Petition was filed through Advocates Raghav Narayan and Pallavi Dubey.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate N Hooda, who represented the Petitioner, argued that Google, which owns YouTube, had removed the two accounts with the help of Artificial Intelligence and there was no human involvement. As a result, the IT Rules were blatantly ignored, denying him the Right to be Heard.
Advocate Mamta Jha representing Google, contended that there was no violation of the Petitioner’s Freedom of Speech and Expression because the accounts were terminated due to a violation of the community guidelines against Hate Speech.
She claimed that the Petitioner violated the community guidelines which he had agreed to while making the accounts by making videos about Shaheen Bagh and other sensitive issues.
The Petitioner laid emphasis on Rule 4(8) of the 2021 Rules, which establishes the procedure to be followed by a significant social media intermediary for content removal.
The Petition also asks for the restoration of the two Youtube channels and a Compensation of Rs. 20 Lakhs for causing the Petitioner both mental and financial harm. The Petition sought establishment of an independent Adjudicating Authority, for the timely resolution of Grievances raised by users against significant social media intermediaries.
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