Delhi High Court directs Google, Apple to curb obscene apps and online content

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked Google and Apple to strictly act against the dissemination of obscene pornographic content through mobile applications hosted on their online platforms remarking that it cannot permit an entire generation to be ruinedA bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said in the present legal framework the social media intermediaries have to play the most vital role and they should act against the dissemination of pornographic content not only upon receiving a complaint but even at the time of uploading by exercising due diligenceIt also asked the Centres Indian Computer Emergency Response Team to check the dissemination of such contentThe court was hearing a PIL by Rubika Thapa against the hosting of mobile applications offering vulgar and pornographic content on platforms run by Google and AppleWe cant permit a whole generation of the country to be ruined We understand all kinds of freedom under Article 19 of the Constitution but that does not mean that we allow dissemination of vulgar content the court orally remarkedWe expect that having regard to the averments in the writ petition respondents no 2 3 and 4 Google LLC Apple Inc and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team shall act strictly to ensure that such dissemination of videos is immediately checked and 2021 IT Rules are followed in letter and spirit the court orderedThe court also issued notice to the central government Google LLC Apple and CERTIn on the PIL and sought an actiontaken report from the platformsThe counsel for the petitioner advocate Tanmaya Mehta highlighted that the offending mobile applications were easily available to children and were earning millions of dollars through their operationHe further argued that the applications were also being used as a tool for blackmail and honeytrappingAdditional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said the menace has to be curbed and called for more accountability from the online platformsThe petitioner in the PIL stated that several mobile applications that do not originate in India were hosting extremely vulgar live streams with the intent to attract and retain users in blatant violation of the Information Technology Act 2000 and various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya SanhitaThe plea filed through advocate Lalit Valecha added that Google and Apple were Significant Social Media Intermediaries and have grossly failed in their due diligence obligations under the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021They not only host but actively promote these applications thereby becoming constructively complicit in the illegal activities and exposing a vast and vulnerable section of the Indian population especially the youth and adolescents to morally and psychologically damaging content the plea contendedThe matter would be heard next on July 17This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever