Delhi High Court Directs Meta, X to Remove Pirated Links of Film Kannappa

The Delhi High Court has recently directed social media giants Meta Platforms Inc. and X Corp. to take down pirated links of actor Vishnu Manchu’s upcoming film Kannappa.

Justice Jyoti Singh passed an ex parte ad interim injunction in favour of the Plaintiff, Twenty Four Frames Factory Pvt. Ltd., a production house established by actor-producer Dr. M. Mohan Babu. The film Kannappa has been produced by the Plaintiff.

Before the High Court, the Plaintiff sought a dynamic injunction against copyright infringement and blocking of infringing content on social media platforms and rogue websites.

Noting that a prima facie case of copyright infringement was made out, the Court in its order observed:

"This Court is of the view that Plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte ad interim injunction. Balance of convenience lies in favour of the Plaintiff and it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in case the injunction, as prayed for, is not granted."

The Plaintiff contended that Kannappa is one of the most ambitious projects of Mr. Babu and is based on religious folklore about Lord Shiva and his devoted follower. The film captures the follower’s spiritual journey and transformation. It was submitted that by virtue of Sections 13(b) and 14(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957, the Plaintiff is the copyright holder of the film and has the exclusive right to exploit it.

However, pirated versions including full movie clips and short reels were found circulating online on platforms like Instagram and Facebook operated by Meta, and on X (formerly Twitter).

The unauthorised circulation, according to the Plaintiff, is affecting its commercial interests, disturbing contractual arrangements, and causing serious reputational harm.

The Court was also told that the anti-piracy team reported 1,776 infringing links on Meta platforms, out of which only 191 were taken down.

Taking note of this, the High Court ordered, "Accordingly, Defendant No. 2 Meta Platforms Inc. is directed to take down and disable the URLs hosting the infringing videos on Instagram and Facebook (mentioned at pages 176 to 212) and Defendant No. 4 X Corp. shall take down and disable the URL mentioned at page 213, in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021."

Case Title: Twenty Four Frames Factory Pvt. Ltd. v. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. & Ors.

Order Date: July 18, 2025

Bench: Justice Jyoti Singh