notified by the Central Government‖, and the threshold stands
notified, vide Notification S.O. 942(E) dated 25th February 2021
issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as
50 lakhs. By any standards, therefore, YouTube, or Google LLC, is a
―significant social media intermediary‖, and Rule 4(4) of the
Intermediary Guidelines Rules, prima facie, applies to it.
10.
Mr. Dayan Krishnan points out that, while in its pre-amended
avatar, the 2021 Intermediary Guidelines Rules only requires the
intermediary to call upon its user to draw up an agreement undertaking
not to post the excepted categories of contents, the amended 2021
Intermediary Guidelines Rules further requires the intermediary to
―make reasonable efforts to cause the user of its computer resource not
to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or
share‖ any such information. The words ―and shall make reasonable
efforts to cause the user of its computer resource‖ have been
introduced by the 2022 Amendment Rules. As such, he submits that
the intermediary can no longer claim to be a mere passive spectator
regarding the information which is uploaded on its platform, but is
required to be more proactive in nature. The intermediary, in order to
be in conformity with the amended 2021 Intermediary Guidelines
Rules, is also required to make reasonable efforts to cause the user of
its computer resource, i.e. in the case of a video clip posted on the
YouTube, the person who posts the clip, not to host, display or upload
any of the excepted categories of information.
11.
Ms. Mamta Rani Jha, at this stage, submits that the words
―reasonable effort‖ has to be interpreted in terms of Section 79 of the
Information Technology Act, 2000 (―the IT Act‖).
Krishnan,
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:SUNIL
SINGH NEGI
CS(COMM)
Signing Date:21.04.2023
08:06:01
Mr. Dayan
in response, submits that the plaintiffs are not seeking
230/2023
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