TV Today moves HC challenging IT rules provision after Insta account blocked

TV Today Network Limited has approached the Delhi High Court after the Instagram account of Harper’s Bazaar India, a magazine owned by the media network, was blocked on a third party complaint alleging copyright infringement, Bar and Bench reported.

The media company’s petition has challenged the constitutionality of Rule 3 (1) (c) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules).

Appearing before a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Arora, advocate Nakul Dewan submitted that the issue concerns an intermediary’s power to remove a platform user’s access to an account.

TV Today argued that Rule 3 (1)(c) allows an intermediary to block access without providing a fair opportunity for users to contest such a decision. It urged the court to either declare the rule as unconstitutional or to read it down in a manner consistent with the IT Act, 2000, Section 52 (fair use) of the Copyright Act and Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India, Bar and Bench reported.

“The difficulty is this. Every time there is a (copyright) strike, I tell them that this is because I am a news organisation. I am using it under Section 52, fair use provision. They are not in a position to decide whether my use is fair use or not... Today I am being asked to discontinue my platform, which 99.03 percent is genuine content. 0.7 percent is what they have a problem with and that is why account is being disabled," Dewan said, according to Bar and Bench.

The court will next hear the matter on May 17. It told the company to challenge the account block before the appellate authorities constituted under the IT Rules.