Court Orders Twitter to Block Account Of Congress Party
A local court in Bengaluru on 8th November 2022 directed Twitter to temporarily block the handles of Congress and its Bharat Jodo Yatra in a copyright violation case.
Bharat Jodo Yatra is an ongoing mass movement started by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wherein he started walking from Kanyakumari and will end the journey in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
The journey spans 3,570 kilometres over 150 days and passes through 12 states and 2 Union territories in which Gandhi will meet people during the day and will sleep in makeshift accommodation at night. The Congress said that they started this movement to unite the country against the alleged divisive politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party led central government. Videos and photos have often been shared on social media. However, now there is a controversy surrounding it.
On 5th November 2022, Bengaluru Police registered an FIR and a case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders following a complaint filed by MRT music label. The complaint alleged that Congress had posted two videos during the Bharat Jodo Yatra with songs from the movie KGF Chapter 2 without permission of the music company MRT music which hold the copyrights of the songs. This was a violation of the Copyright Act. They have booked under IPC as well. A local court in Bengaluru on 8th November 2022 directed Twitter to temporarily block the handles of Indian National Congress (INC) and its Bharat Jodo Yatra in a copyright violation case. The court said that the complainant produced a CD showing the side by side file i.e., original version of his copyrighted work with that of the illegally synchronized version. The court said if the alleged illegal use of sound records was done, the complainant would suffer losses and the same would also lead to encouraging piracy at large. The court also directed Twitter to take down three links from its platform. Court also appointed a commissioner to check Congress’ social media accounts and conduct an electronic audit and to preserve the infringing material on INC and Bharat Jodo Yatra's Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram accounts.
