‘Have broad shoulders if you are on social media’: Delhi HC
The defamation suit stemmed from a social media post by an official of Law Sikho, an online legal education platform
The Delhi high court has held that users on social media platforms must have the resilience to handle both praise and criticism, while dismissing a defamation suit filed by an online legal education platform against four individuals for allegedly posting defamatory tweets in a thread on X.
A bench of justice Manmeet PS Arora, in a February 20 verdict released on Saturday, stated that any social media post is bound to receive reactions. “A post published on a social media platform is bound either to be appreciated or criticised and the user has to have broad shoulders to bear the criticism,” it said.
The defamation suit stemmed from a tweet by an official of Law Sikho, an online legal education platform, criticising the trend of top law firms hiring incompetent National Law University (NLU) graduates through direct campus placement. This triggered reactionary tweets from by the individuals, who are NLU alumnus, which Law Sikho alleged were defamatory in nature.
In the suit, the platform argued that the lead tweet was posted in good faith with the intention of shedding light on a trend in the legal industry that was impacting law students, law firms and educational institutions. It also argued that the reactionary tweets were harmful, and derogatory and defamed it in cyberspace.
The suit, argued by advocate Raghav Awasthi, went on to add that the tweets also had the potential to harm its reputation, financial stability and posed a significant threat to investor confidence.
One defendant, a law graduate from NLU Kolkata and a practising advocate, represented by advocate Himanshu Bhushan, argued that the official’s tweet was provocative, and intended to spark engagement.
While imposing a cost of ₹1 lakh on Law Sikho, justice Arora in her verdict observed that the lead tweet fell within the parameters of “online trolling” – a mode through which users intentionally publish posts on social media meant to provoke emotional responses, increase followers and social media presence. Justice Arora noted that the official initially welcomed the reactions but later took offense after others joined in and trolled him.
“The lead tweet of plaintiff no. 2 (LawSikho official), which comments upon NLUs, its professors and the calibre of the students who graduate from the NLUs and are hired through direct campus placements has the characteristics of proactive/provocative trolling. The plaintiff no. 2 initially did not take offence to the impugned tweets of defendant nos. 1 and 2. In fact, plaintiff no.2’s responses to the impugned tweets showed that plaintiff no. 2 was pleased with the reactions of defendant nos. 1 and 2, as the Lead Tweet has had an intended effect. However, subsequently when other users on ‘X’ joined the said conversation threads and trolled plaintiff no. 2, the same appears to have led plaintiff no. 2 to form an opinion that the impugned tweets are defamatory and led to the filing of this suit,” the court maintained.
In her 54-page ruling, justice Arora held that expressing an opinion is not punishable unless it causes tangible harm and found the suit meritless, as the platform failed to first seek redress under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guideline and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, before filing in court.
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