New Delhi. The High Court on Tuesday said the functioning of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, is worse than that of a government department as it failed to respond properly to the media group on its complaint. The court made this comment while hearing a petition filed against ‘blocking’ the media group’s page Harper’s Bazaar India on Instagram. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan Singh and Justice Manmeet P S Arora slammed technology company Meta and said that if a decision is not taken on the media house’s complaint, the court will prima facie comment that the social media platform has given the media group’s lawyer an affair. Getting it installed.
The bench said, “You are worse than a government department.” You should be careful. You have to be alert to the situation. Your system is not working. This has to be fixed.” The bench said that Meta should put things in order otherwise the court can pass orders. The court was hearing the petition of the media group. The media house has moved court against the blocking of its Instagram page by a third party on complaint of copyright infringement.
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The company did not hear the appeal
It has also challenged the constitutionality of Rule 3(1)(c) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The media house’s lawyer said that he also contacted Meta and the Grievance Redressal Officer regarding his complaint, but the only reply he received was that he had not written the letter at the right place. He also showed the email to the court. Meta’s lawyer said that the Instagram page was ‘blocked’ after three complaints regarding copyright and that the email shown by the media organization was not a decision to reject the complaint but an automatic response.
The company’s embarrassment in front of the court
During the hearing, the court asked the petitioner’s lawyer to return after filling the necessary forms in the presence of Meta’s lawyer. After some time, the petitioner’s lawyer returned and said that the complaint had again been rejected. Expressing displeasure over this, the bench told Meta’s lawyer, “You cannot adopt an obstinate attitude.” Follow what we are saying. You are not able to understand what we are saying…we are being soft towards you. We have given you enough time to get things right… You may have billions of users but you do not have a smooth system.
The bench asked the lawyer to ensure that the complaint of the media organization is considered and an appropriate decision is taken. The court listed the matter for further hearing on Wednesday, asking Meta’s counsel to come up with a better response.
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Tags: DELHI HIGH COURT, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 30, 2024, 22:06 IST