Amidst a flurry of cases by celebrities seeking to protect their personality rights, X (formerly Twitter) told the Delhi High Court Tuesday that content involving “political commentary, satire, fair comment and public speech” must be protected and not removed on their request.
The submission by the social media platform came in a case by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev to protect his “personality rights”.
Ramdev, also the co-founder of FMCG company Patanjali Ayurved, in his suit, has objected to posts on Facebook and X using his personality as a source of amusement and parody for comic relief, so as to “generate audience engagement using advanced artificial intelligence and digital manipulation tools to ridicule” him.
He also objected to his digital identities being created without consent or authorisation, being used to monetise and endorse products, including e-scooters, as well as being used in endorsing other commercial schemes.
He sought that 16 accounts be blocked on X Corp, 18 URLs on Meta Platforms, along with other content on other social intermediaries.
What X argued
X Corp, at the outset, objected to “indiscriminate” blocking orders from the court. Submitting that of the 16 account URLs on its platform that Ramdev flagged, it has already suspended 14.
X Corp’s counsel submitted that it has refrained from suspending two of them.
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Defending the decision, X Corp’s counsel said one of the accounts that goes by the handle ‘@FakeBabaRamdev1’ is a parody account and has not made any media posts.
“In fact, parody accounts in other such matters have been protected by this court. So there can’t be any grievance, and I would request the court to not pass any order on this,” the counsel submitted.
The other account, the counsel said, has changed its profile name entirely and now goes by ‘Karl Marx’. “So unless Karl Marx comes in a personality suit, I think the plaintiff will be satisfied by it… Please see the account, it has one follower or so. It’s just a handle, it’s not as if it’s going to show any endorsement,” the counsel added.
“The issue is not about this one account, it is about blocking accounts indiscriminately in personality rights issues, it is a case of competing interests,” X Corp’s counsel added.
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Further pointing to some posts Ramdev has objected to, including a meme format post where a user has stated ‘Epic’ while attaching two photographs purportedly featuring Ramdev — one when petrol price was at Rs 55 per litre vis-a-vis when price was at Rs 100 per litre — X Corp’s counsel said, “This is political commentary, purely satire, how does it violate personality rights?”
“This is protected and an exception to personality rights. Satire, fair comment, public speech… Plaintiff’s feelings cannot sanitise the entire internet of others’ freedom of speech… Satire is part of democracy. There is nothing offensive in it,” he said.
Ramdev’s counsel, senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, opposed X Corp’s stance, adding, “It shows as if I’m protesting against petrol hike.”
X Corp’s counsel retorted, “You should, what is the harm? Plaintiff, in fact, has protested petrol hikes in the past, so it is all in that context that these posts are made.”
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Nayar also objected to Facebook posts by users where Ramdev is seen lying down as a purported doctor presses a stethoscope against his chest, with users remarking ‘Patanjali ka chavanprash, shahad, desi ghee khaane ke baad allopathy doctor se checkup karate hue’.
What Meta said
Meta’s counsel — Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook are under Meta Platforms — told Justice Jyoti Singh that of the 18 URLs on its platform that Ramdev has objected to, it has disabled access to three. It said 7 other URLs are of different news platforms fact-checking a fake news. The remaining are satirical posts, which will require court’s adjudication, the counsel submitted.
“If anyone goes to claim personality rights against a news channel, then fair reporting itself goes out of the window… With egregious content, we have no problem, we never oppose it. But news reporting?” Meta’s counsel Varun Pathak submitted, while pointing out that several news platforms had run a fact check on false news of Ramdev endorsing e-scooters, which too Ramdev has objected to in his suit.
‘Can’t be so sensitive’: HC
Pathak also flagged an issue faced by social media intermediaries with court-ordered dynamic injunctions in personality and publicity rights’ cases. “Because this is newsworthy content, with actual factual reporting with his image, which comprises fair use, the difficulty then becomes, what do we take down? The plaintiff then becomes the judge in his own cause.”
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Justice Singh, noting that there is nothing denigrating in a fact-check of a fake news, orally addressing Nayar, said, “See the transcript… it’s a fact check… they are only saying something in your favour… We have to be practical about it… it is far from anything disparaging..we can’t be so sensitive… I just cannot take off everything that is against your client… Taken in isolation also, it is not disparaging.”
Nayar then objected to the fact-check articles using Ramdev’s photo riding an e-scooter. He argued, “Let my photo be taken down, let the story be about the scooter.”
However, Zee Entertainment’s counsel submitted that the court has “consistently held that celebrity images can be used for news reporting”.
The court did not pass any interim order for takedown of any of the posts objected to by Ramdev on Tuesday and will hear the matter on Wednesday, instructing all parties to submit written notes.
