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The Delhi High Court connected Wednesday (May 13, 2026) asked Google and Apple to strictly enactment against the dissemination of obscene pornographic contented done mobile applications hosted connected their online platforms.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said that successful the contiguous ineligible framework, the societal media intermediaries person to play the “most captious role”. It besides asked the Centre’s Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to cheque the dissemination of specified content.
The tribunal was proceeding a petition by Rubika Thapa against the hosting of mobile applications offering vulgar and pornographic contented connected platforms tally by Google and Apple.
“We can’t licence a full procreation of the state to beryllium ruined. We recognize each kinds of state nether Article 19 (of the Constitution) but that does not mean that we let (dissemination of vulgar content),” the tribunal orally remarked.
“We expect that having respect to the averments successful the writ petition, respondents no. 2, 3 and 4 (Google LLC, Apple Inc., and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) shall enactment strictly to guarantee that specified dissemination of videos is instantly checked and 2021 IT Rules are followed successful missive and spirit,” the tribunal ordered.
The tribunal besides issued announcement to the Central government, Google LLC, Apple, and CERT-In connected the petition and sought an action-taken study from the platforms.
The plea highlighted that the offending mobile applications were easy disposable to children and were earning millions of dollars done their operation.
‘Rules violated’
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said the menace should beryllium curbed and called for much accountability from the online platforms.
The petitioner stated that respective mobile applications that bash not originate successful India were hosting highly “vulgar unrecorded streams” with the intent to pull and clasp users, successful blatant usurpation of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and assorted provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The plea, filed done advocator Lalit Valecha, added that Google and Apple were ‘Significant Social Media Intermediaries’ and had grossly failed successful their owed diligence obligations nether the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
“They not lone big but actively beforehand these applications, thereby becoming constructively complicit successful the amerciable activities and exposing a immense and susceptible conception of the Indian population, particularly the younker and adolescents, to morally and psychologically damaging content,” the plea contended.
