Delhi HC orders takedown of 'profane and vulgar' posts targeting Raghav Chadha

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed several online platforms to remove certain prima facie defamatory social media posts targeting BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, holding that while political satire and criticism are integral to democracy, content that is "profane and vulgar" cannot be protected as harmless humour. 

Passing an interim order, a single-judge Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad directed Defendants No. 2 and 4 — the intermediary platforms — to take down the specified URLs within two weeks and further asked them to furnish the Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) and IP logs of the accounts associated with the posts to Chadha within the same period.

"Documents No. 2, 8, 9, 11, 25 and 40 contain explicit content, which is profane and vulgar in nature, and fall outside the purview of harmless satirical humour," the Delhi High Court said. "Consequently, the balance of convenience lies in restraining Defendant No. 1 from publishing the same content... as well as directing Defendants No. 2 and 4 to take down the URLs associated with these specific documents," it added.

However, the Justice Prasad-led Bench declined to direct the removal of the remaining content challenged by Chadha, observing that most of the 52 documents placed before it related to criticism of his political decisions after he switched from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The majority of the allegedly defamatory content appears to be satirical expressions of the Plaintiff's decisions in the political sphere, and such decisions are likely to attract both bouquets and brickbats at the same time," the Delhi High Court observed.

It added that "humour about change in political party alliances, governance, policies, etc. are a part and parcel of politics" and that "public figures assuming such positions of power must accept being at the receiving end of the satirical humour as a necessary and inevitable aspect of their profession, though unpleasant."

At the same time, the Delhi High Court also clarified that it was not endorsing the use of artificial intelligence to generate deepfakes or morphed content aimed at harming an individual's dignity. "This Court in no way or manner endorses the use of AI to produce deepfake videos, morphed images, etc., when employed to harm the dignity of an individual," the judgment said, adding that courts must strike "a fair balance" between an individual's right to dignity and the constitutional guarantee of free speech.

Chadha had approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against the alleged unauthorised use of his name, image, likeness, and identity across online and digital platforms, including through AI-generated, deepfake, and morphed content portraying him in a negative light.

His plea sought the removal of synthetic voice cloning, fabricated speeches and manipulated digital content allegedly portraying that he had "sold himself for money" after changing political allegiance. While the Delhi High Court refused to grant wider interim protection under personality rights, it held that the impugned material would instead have to be examined through the lens of defamation, ultimately directing the removal of only those posts which, prima facie, crossed the line from political satire into vulgar and defamatory content.

Welcoming the decision, counsel representing Chadha -- advocates Satatya Anand and Nikhil Aradhe -- said the judgment was a significant step towards tackling organised online defamation. "The order passed today by the Hon'ble Single Judge of the Delhi High Court is a welcome step as it directed the takedown of defamatory content against Mr Chadha, thereby protecting individuals from organised defamatory content on social media," they said in a statement.

"It reinforces the fact that freedom of speech cannot be used to run paid orchestrated campaigns of defamation and character assassination," the lawyers added. According to Chadha's counsel, it was brought to the notice of the Delhi High Court that a coordinated and allegedly paid social media campaign was being run through multiple professional agencies to damage the public image and reputation of the Rajya Sabha MP.

"The material placed before the Court demonstrated that defamatory posts, by several social media accounts and influencers publishing paid content, engaged by Influencer Marketing Agencies, were disseminated across numerous social media handles within minutes, reflecting a concerted and organised effort to amplify false narratives and cause irreparable reputational harm," the statement said.

Describing the order as significant, Chadha's lawyers said it marked "an important step towards ensuring quick action against organised online defamation and protecting the dignity of public discourse."

--IANS

pds/uk