The Delhi High Court today raised concerns over Instagram’s ‘Remix’ feature, observing that it could potentially be misused to manipulate and reproduce original content, facilitating copyright infringement.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani made the observations while hearing a suit filed by Drishti IAS founder Dr Vikas Divyakirti against Meta Platforms, seeking protection of his personality, copyright and moral rights.
Addressing Meta’s counsel, Advocate Varun Pathak, the Court noted that Instagram allows users to take an existing video, add their own content and upload the modified version on their own handle.
Directing attention to Meta’s platform features, Justice Bhambhani warned that the tool facilitates content manipulation and copyright infringement. Describing it as potentially mischievous and susceptible to misuse, he questioned whether the platform ought to permit it. Meta’s counsel, Varun Pathak, committed to reviewing the Court’s concerns.
The Court was apparently referring to Instagram’s ‘Remix’ feature, which allows users to create a new Reel using an existing public Reel or video by adding their own recorded or pre-recorded content.
Divyakirti has alleged that his copyright and moral rights were violated through fake social media profiles, deepfakes and fake endorsements. Senior Advocate Diya Kapur, appearing for him, also alleged that portions of his lectures were selectively manipulated to portray him as “Hindu-phobic” and “anti-Brahmin”.
Meta submitted that remedies under the Information Technology Act and Rules were available to Divyakirti. Kapur, however, argued that the case involved constitutional and proprietary rights.
The Court also discussed the misuse of copyright strikes, with Justice Bhambhani observing that fake copyright complaints could immediately affect a creator, while restoring the affected account or content could involve a lengthy process.
The Court granted interim relief to Divyakirti by directing the takedown of certain deepfake videos and other links. It also directed social media intermediaries to provide basic subscriber information and IP logs of persons allegedly uploading infringing content.
The Court declined to club the suit with separate personality-rights cases involving Vivek Oberoi, Janhvi Kapoor and Aaradhya Bachchan.
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