The Kerala High Court directed platforms like YouTube and Instagram to remove edited, offensive videos of a minor girl. The Court acted after her innocent movie review was distorted and shared with vulgar content online.
Kochi: Today, on June 10, in a recent case, the Kerala High Court gave temporary relief to a minor girl and her family, ordering social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook to immediately remove videos that mocked and insulted her.
Justice N. Nagaresh passed this interim order while hearing a petition filed by the girl’s mother.
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The problem started when some people took a video of the girl reviewing a Malayalam movie and edited it in a very bad way, making fun of her.
As per the petition, the young girl had posted an innocent and spontaneous review of a Malayalam film named Moonwalk, which was directed by her uncle.
This video was shared at the time of the movie’s release on May 30. But soon, unknown individuals picked up her video, edited it badly, and posted it online with vulgar and offensive content.
The petition said that
“The child’s facial expressions and voice were retained while the background was altered with mocking music, sarcastic voice filters, and vulgar captions. These edited videos were often captioned with sexually suggestive or deeply insulting phrases, with overlays that twisted the innocent narrative of the original video into an object of public ridicule and targeted humiliation.”
The girl’s mother explained that her daughter’s video was changed using dirty voiceovers, mocking music, and vulgar edits that ruined the original message.
These edited clips were shared widely across social media. Even though the mother tried to report the videos using the complaint systems provided by the platforms, nothing really happened.
She even gave specific URLs and screenshots in a police complaint, but no action was taken.
Feeling helpless, the mother went to the Kerala High Court to ask for protection for her child against online bullying and misuse.
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She said that these online videos hurt her daughter emotionally and mentally. The child suffered from anxiety, emotional breakdowns, and started avoiding social situations because of the viral videos.
The petition strongly relied on certain legal rules under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
It mentioned Rule 3(1)(b)(iii), which says that online content harmful to children must not be shared.
It also pointed out Rule 3(2)(a)(i), which requires that any takedown requests must be acted upon by the platform within 72 hours.
The mother argued that the social media companies had failed in their legal duties by not removing the videos, even after complaints were made.
According to the petition, this failure was not just careless but a violation of the girl’s basic constitutional and legal rights.
The petition also stated that
“The child’s facial expressions and voice were retained while the background was altered with mocking music, sarcastic voice filters, and vulgar captions. These edited videos were often captioned with sexually suggestive or deeply insulting phrases, with overlays that twisted the innocent narrative of the original video into an object of public ridicule and targeted humiliation.”
After reading the petition and understanding the situation, the Kerala High Court immediately passed an interim order.
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The Court directed that all the links to the insulting and offensive videos must be removed without any delay.
The petitioner, the girl’s mother, was represented by Advocates Navaneeth N Nath, Abhirami S, Abdul Latheef PM, and Gautham Krishna EJ in this matter.
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