At times when social media has a huge influence on the lives of people and their reputation, questions of law and regulation of social media without curbing the freedom of expression of people continue to be a vexatious issue. This came up in the Madras High Court recently too. The court has underscored the need for YouTube to put in place a mechanism to prevent its users from uploading malicious content encroaching upon the privacy of other individuals. It did so while passing an ex-parte decree directing a YouTuber to pay a compensation of ₹50 lakh to transgender politician-cum-journalist Apsara Reddy.
Videos taken down
Justice N. Sathish Kumar dismissed the suit against Google LLC, which owns YouTube, since it was reported that it had taken down all 10 defamatory videos posted by the YouTuber against Ms. Reddy. He pointed out that the plaintiff too had given up the relief sought against YouTube. But it was high time the video-sharing company prevented such content, he said.
