In his lawsuit, Raghav Chadha had said such posts are gravely prejudicial to his reputation and personality rights. (HT Photo/ Vipin Kumar)
The order came after the Rajya Sabha MP filed a petition seeking protection against the circulation of defamatory and AI-manipulated content against him online. In his lawsuit, he had said such posts are gravely prejudicial to his reputation and personality rights.
After the order was passed by a single judge bench of the Delhi HC, the counsels representing Chadha referred to it as a “welcome step.” “The order passed today by the Hon’ble Single Judge of the Delhi High Court is a welcome step as it directed takedown of defamatory content against Mr Chadha thereby protecting individuals from organised defamatory content on social media,” the statement said. Chadha was being represented by senior advocate Rajiv Nayar.
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Justice Subramonium Prasad, while passing the order, agreed that the defamatory material underlined by Chadha crossed the line between legitimate criticism and defamation and ordered its removal.
‘Concerted and organised effort to amplify false narratives’
In their statement after the court’s directive, the counsels representing Chadha said the order “reinforces the fact that freedom of speech cannot be used to run paid orchestrated campaigns of defamation and character assassination.”
They said that during the hearings, they had brought before the court “a coordinated and allegedly paid social media campaign” which they said was being run through several professional agencies. The counsels said that these were done to “damage the public image and reputation” of the Rajya Sabha MP.
The counsel appearing for Meta had submitted that several screenshots relied upon by Chadha were newspaper reports or otherwise innocuous material.
Chadha’s counsels termed the order as an “important step” in ensuring quick action against “organised” online defamation. “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 added.
However, the high court has clarified that the proceedings did not involve personality rights, a point which would be elaborated on in the detailed order.
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‘Thin line between defamation and criticism’: What the court said earlier
In an earlier hearing on the matter, Justice Subramonium Prasad had highlighted that there was a “thin line” between defamatory content and criticism of a political decision.
“The line between defamation and criticism is quite thin, right? It’s very easy to slip to the other side, which affects your right to live with dignity and you cannot infringe on this side at the same time. Your Article 19 (1) (a) right also cannot be taken away,” the court had said. The single judge bench had then acknowledged that while an individual has the right to live with dignity, the right to free speech under the Constitution also cannot be taken away.
“It is a comment by an individual criticizing a political decision… As a political leader, can you be sensitive,” Justice Prasad said. The judge orally observed that prima facie, the material seemed to be “criticism of a political decision.”
Meanwhile, Chadha’s counsel Advocate Nayar said posts implying he “traded for money” cannot be termed as “fair criticism” and said that the offending posts “can’t stay even for a day.”
The lawsuit contended that artificial intelligence and deepfake technology were being used in an unauthorized manner to create and disseminate manipulated content, which was a serious infringement of Chadha’s legal and constitutional rights.
