In Ashish Bhalla v Suresh Chawdhary & Ors, Delhi High Court recently decided that administrators of social media groups cannot be held responsible for defamatory statements made by any other member of the group.
The court dismissed a civil suit for defamation against the administrator of a Telegram and Google group created by disgruntled homeowners who were aggrieved due to non-delivery of their flats and delays and excuses from the promoters of a real estate company in Gurgaon.
Bhalla, as the dealing person and point of contact of the real estate company, was the target of abusive and derogatory remarks from group members, despite having left the company. He filed a suit before Delhi High Court seeking a permanent injunction and damages for defamation against Chawdhary and Vishal Dubey, who was the administrator of the social group.
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The court allowed applications filed by Chawdhary and Dubey for rejection of the plaint, observing that it did not disclose any cause of action against the defendants as the defamatory words uttered or written had not been pleaded, as required in a defamation suit. Further, a document which was produced by Bhalla did not qualify as defamatory.
The court observed that making an administrator of an online platform liable for defamation would be akin to making the manufacturer of the newsprint on which defamatory statements are published liable for defamation. The creator of an online platform cannot be made liable for defamatory statements made by any member of the group. It is not as if the administrator’s approval is required for each of the statements posted by any of the members of the group on the platform.
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The dispute digest is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi.
The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@bhasinco.in or lbhasin@gmail.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
