Social media platforms warned on live court videos

Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court cautioned social media platforms, individuals, video-makers, media agencies and the general public against unauthorised use or sharing of live-streamed videos of court proceedings.

Following the directions of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe, the administrative wing of the High Court issued a circular regarding the illegal use of recordings of court proceedings. G. Praveen Kumar, Registrar (IT) of the High Court, mentioned that legal consequences that follow the authorised usage of live-streamed videos of court proceedings.

As per the guidelines and rules for the court proceedings for live streaming, “no person/entity (including print and electronic media, and social media platforms) other than an authorised person/entity shall record, share and/or disseminate live-streamed proceedings or archival data. This provision shall also apply to all messaging applications.”

“Any person/entity acting contrary to this provision will be prosecuted as per law,” the guidelines said. “The court shall have the exclusive copyright in the recordings and archival data. Any unauthorized usage of the live-stream will be punishable as an offence under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, Information Technology Act, 2000, and other provisions of law, including the law of Contempt.”

“Live-stream shall not, without the prior written authorisation of the Court, be reproduced, transmitted, uploaded, posted, modified, published, or re-published in any form,” according to the rules.