New Delhi: Google and Meta have told the Delhi High Court that it is practically impossible to monitor and filter social media posts and videos before they are uploaded, citing the sheer volume of content shared every day.
The submissions came in a petition linked to the Delhi excise policy case. When former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal appeared in court, visuals from the proceedings surfaced on social media.
Advocate Vaibhav Singh alleged that unauthorised videos were circulated by AAP and Congress leaders in violation of court rules, and sought directions to social media platforms to proactively detect and remove such content.
A bench comprising Justice V. Kameshwar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed platforms including Google, Meta and X to take down the videos immediately and asked them to file their responses.
In their reply, Google and Meta said platforms cannot be turned into “super censors” and that there is no constitutional basis to require them to independently identify and remove allegedly unlawful content. They added that takedowns are feasible when specific links to pages flagged as illegal by the court are provided, and cited legal protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
