MICROSOFT, GOOGLE CHALLENGE DELHI HIGH COURT'S ORDER ON REMOVING NON-CONSENSUAL IMAGES

Tech behemoths Microsoft and Google have filed petitions with the Delhi High Court to contest a ruling that mandates search engines to actively eliminate non-consensual intimate images (NCII) from the web, without the need for victims to provide specific URLs, according to a Bar and Bench report.

The appeal comes in the wake of a directive issued by Justice Subramonium Prasad on April 26, 2023, wherein he cautioned that social media intermediaries would forfeit their liability protections if they failed to adhere to the prescribed timelines under the Information Technology Rules (IT Rules) for the removal of NCII content. Justice Prasad asserted that the technology to remove such content autonomously exists and that search engines should not claim incapacity.

However, during a session before a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, Microsoft argued that complying with the single judge's order is technologically unfeasible and exceeds the bounds of the current legal framework. Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, representing Microsoft, highlighted the distinction between Meta's social media platforms and Microsoft’s search engine Bing, noting that Bing does not host content and therefore cannot apply the same removal tools used by Meta.

Mehta emphasised the limitations of existing technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), stating that AI cannot reliably discern between consensual and non-consensual images, making the execution of the court's order impossible. "I can't do it. I am Bing. Given the technology that exists today, we can't do it...The directions [issued by the single-judge] overstep the regulatory framework. So long as we are given the URLs, we can take it down, but when the order says you [search engines] go looking for this image all over the database and then remove it, it is not possible," Mehta explained.

Google has lodged a similar appeal, expected to be heard on Thursday, May 9. The court has decided to consider both cases collectively on the scheduled date.

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2024-05-08T13:35:10Z dg43tfdfdgfd