The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo Search, Microsoft Bing and DuckDuckGo to remove and de-index globally an offending image of an Indian whose photograph was stolen from her Facebook and Instagram account and published on a pornographic site.
Failure to comply by the search engines would attract penal provisions according to the IT Act, the court said. It has directed the Delhi police to provide information of the offending content of the person from the pornographic site Hamster as well as search engines.
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A further direction is issued to the search engines Google Search, Yahoo Search, Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, to endeavour to use automated tools, to proactively identify and globally disable access to any content which is exactly identical to the offending content, that may appear on any other websites/online platforms, Delhi HIgh Court Judge Anup Jairam Bhambani wrote in the judgement on Tuesday.
The court said non-compliance by the search engines would attract penal provisions according to the IT Act. It has directed the Delhi police to provide information of the offending content of the person from the pornographic site Hamster as well as search engines.
“It is made clear that non-compliance with the foregoing directions would make the non-compliant party liable to forfeit the exemption, if any, available to it generally under section 79(1) of the IT Act and as specified by Rule 7 of the 2021 Rules; and shall make such entity and
its officers liable for action as mandated by section 85 of the IT Act,” the court ruled.
