Google told the Delhi High Court that it is impossible and legally untenable to proactively monitor, remove, or prevent the re-upload of unauthorised recordings of online court proceedings on YouTube. The company said such directions cannot be effectively implemented across its platform.
Google has drawn a clear line in the Delhi High Court, telling the bench that it lacks a practical way to stop unauthorised court recordings before they reach YouTube.
It also argued that asking it to do so misunderstands both the technology and the law.
At the center of Google’s position is a basic distinction: YouTube does not create or record courtroom content. By the time a clip appears on the platform, someone else has already captured it independently using a phone, laptop, or another device long before it is uploaded. Google therefore maintains that the initial leak occurs outside its control.
In its view, YouTube only encounters the video after it is already made available, without any ability to see how, where, or by whom it was recorded.
Google further pointed to a major practical challenge: Indian courts do not follow a single uniform approach on whether recordings or broadcasts of hearings are permitted. What may be allowed in one courtroom may be restricted in another, and the applicable standards can vary depending on the bench, the specific case, and the court handling it.
Because there is no consistent rule set to measure against, Google argued that its systems have no reliable basis for distinguishing between lawful and unlawful recordings nor can it consistently verify whether a video is genuinely from court.
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A key part of Google’s argument is its legal standing as an intermediary under Indian law. The company said platforms like YouTube are not structured and are not legally expected to act as independent decision-makers determining in advance what content is lawful. Instead, Google claims that its duties begin only once a particular video is identified by its URL and a court has formally ordered it to be taken down. At that point, Google said, the obligation to remove the content applies.
The affidavit was filed in response to a plea by advocate Vaibhav Singh. He approached the court after clips of Arvind Kejriwal addressing a Delhi High Court bench went viral on social media without authorisation.
Google told the court that it had already acted on the specific videos named in the plea and that those clips have since been removed or blocked from view within India.