No legal obligation to weed out objectionable content: Google tells SC

NEW DELHI: Internet search engine Google on Wednesday told the Supreme Court it was under “no legal obligation” to scan and weed out videos containing objectionable sexual content on its own in the absence of any specific complaint amid allegations that videos of the alleged rape of a Malayalam actress recently were doing the rounds on the social media.

“The case is about a legal obligation. There is no legal obligation on me to discover. There can’t be a legal obligation. Your lordships can’t do it. The object is to catch the real person. Object is not to catch me,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued for the search engine.

Singhvi was arguing before a two-judge bench, comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, dealing with a 2015 PIL which seeks to prevent uploading of videos involving crimes against women.


Under the Indian Information Technology Act, search engines are not responsible for any content uploaded by third parties. “Supposing nobody complains, do you act or not. We are asking you the factual position,” Justice Lalit asked. Singhvi replied: “Factually not possible, unless Google uploads it. Say some video is uploaded by me then your lordships can catch us.”

But Justice Lalit would not hear of this. “You can facilitate catching of the offender,” he observed.