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Google liable for defamation cases before Act change: SC
Why in news?
- SC recently held that internet intermediaries like Google can’t be protected from criminal defamation cases registered against them prior to October 27, 2009.
More in news
- A Bench of Justices Mohan Shantanagoudar & K.M. Joseph pronounced the judgment on the basis of an appeal filed by Google India Pvt Ltd.
- Appeal filed by Google India Pvt Ltd.:
(1) Appeal was against a criminal defamation action: on the basis of a complaint filed by M/s Vishaka Industries, a manufacturer of asbestos cement sheets.
(2) Vishaka accused the co-ordinator of a Google group called ‘Ban Asbestos India’ and Google India for authoring/hosting defamatory articles against their products in 2008.
(3) The accused were asked to appear in court in September 2009 – that is before the amendment in Section 79 came into existence.
- Judgement: Section 79 of the Act, prior to its substitution, did not protect an intermediary in regard to the offence under Section 499/500 of the IPC. The verdict noted that Google India argued it was not a publisher of third-party content.
- Amendment to the Information Technology Act:
(1) It was only on Oct 27, 2009 that Parliament amended the IT Act of 2000 to protect online intermediaries from liability for criminally defamatory content published in them by third parties.
(2) Amended Section 79 of the 2000 Act: provided that “an intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him.”
(3) Blanket Protection: The amendment gave almost blanket protection to intermediaries from legal action under Section 499/500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.
