Karnataka High Court restrains social media from using live-streamed court proceedings

High Court of Karnataka restrains YouTube, META, and X from sharing live-streamed court proceedings due to rule violation.

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday (September 24) temporarily restrained the social media platforms YouTube, META and X (formerly Twitter) from sharing the live-streamed court proceedings with immediate effect and till further order.

The court also restrained five private channels on YouTube — Kahale News, Fans Troll, Prathidhvani, Avaniyana, and Ravindra Joshi Creations — from uploading the live-streamed videos from the High Court’s official YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, the court directed the three social media platforms and the five private YouTube channels to delete with immediate effect all the live-streamed videos of the court proceedings uploaded on their respective platforms in violation of Rule 10 of the Karnataka Rules on Live-Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings, 2021.

Justice Hemant Chandangoudar passed the interim order on a petition filed by the Advocates’ Association, Bengaluru (AAB).

Meanwhile, the court ordered the issue of notices to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the State government, the Registrar-General of the High Court, the social media platforms, and the private YouTube channels.

The AAB had complained that the social media platforms and the private YouTube channels were editing the videos of live-streamed proceedings of the High Court of Karnataka on its official YouTube channel contrary to the rules, which prohibit it.

It has been contended in the petition that a new trend of misusing videos of live-streamed court proceedings has become rampant for commercial and entertainment purposes, and the same is not only misleading the general public as small snippets of court proceedings would give partial information to the general public/viewer but the same is falsely projected by miscreants for personal and political gain.