Google challenges new IT rules, says it’s not a social intermediary

Google LLC on Wednesday moved the division bench of the Delhi High Court against the order of its single judge directing it to remove morphed pictures of a woman on certain pornographic websites within 24 hours of receiving the order. The order stated that failure on the part of Google to remove the objectionable content from all the sites world-wide would lead the company to lose the immunity which it enjoys as an intermediary under Section 79(1) of the IT Act and and its officers would be liable for action as mandated by Section 85 of the IT Act.

In its appeal before the division bench, Google has contended that it was erroneous on the part of the single judge to refer to its search engine as a social intermediary as it was an aggregator. Further, it stated that it can remove the objectionable content from India but it may not be possible to do the same globally.