[The court also ordered Google to remove links to news reports that Gupta alleged were defamatory from the search engine’s results. Google appears to have complied with the order for at least some users in India but later asked for the ruling to be overturned, saying it was against the “public interest” and would have a “chilling effect on freedom of speech and expression.”]
By Niha Masih
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A Delhi court in January
ordered YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google to submit
subscriber information
regarding content posted by anonymous users against
a plaintiff. (Diptendu
Dutta/AFP/Getty Images)
|
Now the Instagram account, called “Scene and
Herd,” is at the center of a case with potential global repercussions over how
social media giants handle anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct.
Gupta sought an injunction to block access to
the posts as part of a defamation lawsuit against the Instagram account, and in
September, an Indian court directed Facebook, Instagram’s owner, to take down
the posts and disclose the identity of Scene and Herd’s creator to the court.
Facebook’s lawyer said that it would comply with the order by the next hearing
in mid-November.
The court also ordered Google to remove links
to news reports that Gupta alleged were defamatory from the search engine’s
results. Google appears to have complied with the order for at least some users
in India but later asked for the ruling to be overturned, saying it was against
the “public interest” and would have a “chilling effect on freedom of speech
and expression.”
Gupta and his lawyer declined to comment for
this story. The administrators of the Instagram account did not respond to
requests for comment.
“A large momentum for the #MeToo movement has
come from the fact that people could maintain their anonymous identity,” said
Jyoti Panday, a researcher specializing in Internet governance policy at the
Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad.
The Scene and Herd case is not the first to
bring the issue of anonymity to court. A judge in Virginia ordered Yelp to
identify seven anonymous reviewers of a carpet-cleaning company, which
subsequently filed a defamation suit against the reviewers. Yelp challenged the
ruling, which was overturned in a higher court in 2015. In January, following a
petition by a yoga guru and entrepreneur, a court in Delhi ordered YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter and Google to submit subscriber information regarding content
posted by anonymous users against the plaintiff. The companies complied with
the order by submitting IP addresses, time of upload of the posts and mobile
numbers, according to court documents.
A spokesman for Facebook in India, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity, citing standard company practice, declined to
comment on the Gupta case because it was still before the courts. The company
“remains committed to complying with applicable laws,” he said.
Facebook has taken down the Instagram posts
that leveled allegations against Gupta in India, though the posts are visible
to users in other countries. While Facebook doesn’t share user numbers,
estimates by data portal Statista say India is one of its biggest markets, with
270 million users on Facebook and 69 million on Instagram.
The Gupta case is the latest backlash against
the #MeToo movement in India. Some women who alleged harassment by high-profile
men have been the target of defamation lawsuits. The current case, however,
also raises the prospect that women who sought to remain anonymous, fearing
reprisals, could be identified against their wishes.
Supporters of the movement argue that
anonymity is often the only recourse when the perpetrators are men in positions
of power. There is also social stigma around sexual misconduct and a lack of
faith in the justice system. Critics say that naming and shaming men without
evidence or process is unfair.
Gupta stepped down as the curator of an arts
festival and from the board of an art collective in the aftermath of the
allegations.
In his defamation suit, Gupta, 55, said the
accusations were “false” and “unsubstantiated.” He said they had caused
“incalculable damage” to his reputation.
Gupta was once described as the “Damien Hirst
of India” and has exhibited at top galleries such as Hauser and Wirth in New
York and museums such as the Tate Modern in London. He is best known for his
massive steel sculptures made with ordinary household objects. His lawsuit
contends that he suffered a substantial loss of work as a result of the
allegations.
A similar case is underway in the United
States. An anonymous Instagram account, Diet Madison Avenue, that published
allegations against men in advertising was sued by one of the men accused last
year. He won the right to subpoena Facebook for information about the
identities of the creators, while the defendants have filed petitions
anonymously to dismiss the lawsuit.
In India following the Gupta case, a Delhi
court in late October ordered Twitter and media outlets to not publish
anonymous allegations against a prominent Bollywood director made last year.
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