New Delhi: Delhi High Court has directed Meta, which owns the social media platform Instagram, to take action against fake accounts posting obscene photos of a 15-year-old girl.On June 25, a single judge bench of Justice Manoj Jain also directed the platform to disclose details of the people behind the fake accounts. The matter is now listed for Sept 8.The application was moved by the minor through her mother, in a suit seeking a permanent and mandatory injunction against the defendants as well as damages for the manner in which she was represented on social media. The petitioner alleged that the defendants obtained obscene and objectionable photos of the minor through deceit in order to blackmail her. Some of the photographs were also stated to be morphed.The plea further stated that the defendants maintained anonymised profiles and, despite best efforts, their true identity and particulars were still not available. “It seems that everything happened after innocuous acceptance of some request received by the minor victim and, according to the minor victim, various accounts were created using her identity, thereby constituting a clear and deliberate act of impersonation,” the bench said.Finally, stating that irreparable harm may be caused to the petitioner if interim relief is not granted, the court restrained the defendants from uploading any further objectionable material containing actual or morphed images of the minor until the next date of hearing.
