The Delhi High Court on Tuesday remarked that the functioning of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, was worse than that of a government department as it failed to properly respond to media group TV Today Network’s plea against the blocking of its Instagram page Harper’s Bazaar India.

Pulling up the tech giant, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said if the complaint of the media house is not decided, the court will make prima facie observation that the social media platform was taking TV Today's counsel in circles.

“You are far worse than a government department. Please be careful. You have to be alive to the situation. Your system is not working. Your system does not work. It has to work,” the bench said and added that Meta should “put its house in order” or else the court might pass an order castigating it.

The court was hearing a plea by TV Today Network Pvt Ltd which has come against the blocking of its Instagram page on a third party’s complaint that its copyright was violated.

It has also challenged the constitutionality of Rule 3(1)(c) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The counsel for the media house submitted that they have written to Meta about their grievance and also contacted the grievance redressal officer but the only response they got was that they have not written to the correct channel. He showed the email to the court.

The counsel for Meta submitted that the Instagram page was blocked following three copyright complaints and the email shown by the media group was not a decision to reject the complaint but an automatic reply.

He said the email shown by the petitioner was not a decision to reject the complaint but an automatic reply.

During the hearing, the court asked the petitioner’s counsel to fill the requisite form in the presence of Meta’s counsel and come back.

After some time, the petitioner’s counsel returned and said that the complaint has been rejected again.

An annoyed bench told Meta’s counsel, “You cannot be stubborn with us. Follow what we are saying. You're not able to understand what we are saying…We have been more than liberal with you. We have given you enough time to set your house in order…You may be having billions of users but your house is not in order.” The bench asked the counsel to ensure the complaint of the media house is entertained and decided appropriately and listed the matter for further hearing on Wednesday while asking Meta’s counsel to come with a better response.

“Your system is not working. We will pass an order and castigate you then… don't do this…. Please understand, the Rule will become invalid if the system won't work,” the court said.

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