In its affidavit before the Court, Google said that directing social media platforms to prevent the recurrence and re-upload of unauthorised recordings of court proceedings is legally untenable and impossible to implement.
The platform stated that recordings are made outside YouTube and it cannot determine whether a video depicts court proceedings, whether the recording was authorised, or whether it violates any law, especially since court rules vary across India.
"In such circumstances, it is not possible for the answering respondent [Google] to proactively monitor its platform and "prevent the recurrence of such unauthorised recordings and their subsequent dissemination", as is prayed for," Google's affidavit stated.
It added that it is well settled that Google is only required to remove videos "specifically identified by their URLs, once the specific videos have been adjudicated to be violative of the applicable law" by a court.
"Further, apart from the specifically identified videos on YouTube, the Answering Respondent [Google] cannot sift through the millions of videos on its platform and/ or monitor its platform to determine if there are other videos which pertain to unauthorised recordings of court proceedings and are in violation of applicable law," the tech giant said.
In its affidavit before the Court, Google said that directing social media platforms to prevent the recurrence and re-upload of unauthorised recordings of court proceedings is legally untenable and impossible to implement.
The platform stated that recordings are made outside YouTube and it cannot determine whether a video depicts court proceedings, whether the recording was authorised, or whether it violates any law, especially since court rules vary across India.
"In such circumstances, it is not possible for the answering respondent [Google] to proactively monitor its platform and "prevent the recurrence of such unauthorised recordings and their subsequent dissemination", as is prayed for," Google's affidavit stated.
It added that it is well settled that Google is only required to remove videos "specifically identified by their URLs, once the specific videos have been adjudicated to be violative of the applicable law" by a court.
"Further, apart from the specifically identified videos on YouTube, the Answering Respondent [Google] cannot sift through the millions of videos on its platform and/ or monitor its platform to determine if there are other videos which pertain to unauthorised recordings of court proceedings and are in violation of applicable law," the tech giant said.
