Madhya Pradesh High Court upholds IT rules on copyright takedowns

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that Rule 3(1)(b)(iv) of the 2021 IT Rules is constitutional, affirming the power of social media intermediaries to remove content alleged to violate copyright. The court dismissed a petition from a content creator who argued that the rules unconstitutionally delegated judicial authority to private corporations.

The case arose after Instagram suspended the petitioner’s account following multiple copyright strikes. While the petitioner argued that the platform denied him due process and violated free speech, the court held that under the IT Act, platforms acting as intermediaries are required to exercise due diligence to remove infringing content. The bench concluded that, as an authorized intermediary, the platform maintains the right to manage its services according to these statutory guidelines.

This ruling contrasts with ongoing litigation in the Delhi High Court, where multiple content creators have presented evidence of systemic abuse of automated copyright management tools. Critics argue that these tools are being weaponized to issue fraudulent strikes against original content. As Meta has acknowledged in separate proceedings that some copyright strikes were issued in error, the focus remains on the reliability of automated systems that currently lack the capacity to verify actual infringement.