Meta and Google said they cannot proactively identify and remove unauthorised recordings of court proceedings from their platforms, arguing they neither had the obligation nor the technical ability to screen such content before it was uploaded.

The responses were submitted to the Delhi High Court on Tuesday in response to a plea against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and other political leaders. The plea alleged leaders had unlawfully recorded and circulated videos of court proceedings on April 13, when Kejriwal sought the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma from the CBI’s Delhi liquor policy case.

The petitioner alleged the circulation violated court rules and sought their removal from social media platforms. Meta said intermediaries were under no legal obligation to proactively monitor user-generated content, including unauthorised recordings of court hearings. Google took a similar stand, stating that it was impossible to monitor every video uploaded to YouTube.

The company said it neither owned nor controlled the user-uploaded content and could not determine whether a video was unlawful unless notified. It described itself as a ‘mere intermediary’ and said responsibility, if any, lay with the uploader of the content.