Delhi High Court Seeks Meta, Centre's Reply on Copyright Strikes Allegedly Used to Extort Creators
Digital content creators face a new challenge on social media platforms: copyright complaints allegedly being weaponised by third-party actors to pressure creators into paying money to restore their content. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought responses from Meta Platforms and the central government on a public interest litigation highlighting this issue.
A bench of Justices V Kameswar Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora heard the petition filed by Nitin Joshi, a Noida-based full-time content creator with over 1.6 million Instagram followers. Joshi creates content on entrepreneurship, finance, branding, business strategy, and marketing.
On July 7, Joshi published a video titled “Instagram’s Biggest Copyright Scam”, alleging that digital creators were being targeted through coordinated copyright strikes. He invited other affected creators to share their experiences and supporting material. The petition claims that rogue actors misuse the copyright complaint system to extort money from creators, threatening to take down their content or have their accounts suspended.
Copyright strikes are a mechanism on platforms like Instagram and YouTube that allow rights holders to report content that infringes their copyright. Multiple strikes can lead to account restrictions or termination. The petitioners argue that this system is being exploited, with false or dubious claims filed to coerce creators into paying for content restoration.
The Delhi High Court has issued notices to Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Instagram, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, seeking their responses. The matter is scheduled for further hearing in September.
This case highlights the growing tension between protecting intellectual property and preventing abuse of automated takedown systems. Content creators have long complained about the lack of transparency and due process in copyright enforcement on social media platforms. The court’s intervention could set a precedent for how such platforms handle disputed copyright claims.
The Centre and Meta have been asked to outline steps taken to prevent misuse of copyright complaints and to ensure that creators are not unfairly targeted. The outcome will be closely watched by India’s vast digital creator community.
