Display common courtesies on social media: Delhi High Court
The case deals with defamation on social media platforms. It also discusses the conduct of the users of various social media platforms. The plaintiffs, a news media agency and others, were aggrieved by defamatory tweets of the defendant. The defendant in a tweet had allegedly fudged the circulation figures of one magazine of the plaintiff. The tweet falsely extolled the virtues of a book authored by Mr. Raj Chengappa, and had called one of the employees of plaintiff No.2, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai some derogatory terms.
Ratio
“Since social media platforms are accessed by a large number of persons of various ages, it is expected of users to display sobriety and common courtesies to those towards whom the comments are directed.”
Decision
The plaintiffs were successful in showing that the tweets of the defendant lacked justification. Consequently, the defendant was injuncted from posting any defamatory statements till further orders of the court. The Court further directed Defendant No.2 (Twitter) to take down the impugned tweets and/ or block the URLs set forth in the judgments.
Case Name: Living Media India Limited & Anr. Vs. Rakesh Krishnan Simha & Anr.
Citation: CS(OS) 282/2020
Court: Delhi High Court
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