Delhi High Court Examines Meta Suspensions Over Fake Copyright Strikes

The Delhi High Court will consider whether social media platforms can suspend or delete user accounts on the basis of copyright strikes, following a court case arising from the suspension of content creator Saurabh Maurya's Instagram account in Delhi.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani asked the parties involved in the matter to address whether such suspensions or deletions are consistent with legal principles laid down by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India and by the Delhi High Court in Myspace Inc. v. Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.

Appearing for Mr. Maurya, senior advocate Diya Kapur, along with advocate Nakul Gandhi, submitted that third parties had uploaded his original videos onto other platforms, manipulated the dates of the uploads, and subsequently issued copyright strikes claiming ownership of the content. Acting on those third-party claims, Meta suspended Mr. Maurya’s Instagram account despite his contention that he was the original creator of the videos.

During the court hearing, Meta informed the bench that the copyright strikes had been found to be fake. Meta stated that the strikes had since been reversed and Mr. Maurya’s account had been restored.

His counsel, however, argued that the simple restoration of the account did not resolve the larger legal issue concerning the copyright-strike mechanism followed by social media platforms.

Taking note of the submissions, Justice Bhambhani directed the defendants to specifically address the issue in their replies. The court recorded Meta’s statement that Mr. Maurya’s account had been restored and posted the matter for its next hearing on September 24.