Admin not liable for WhatsApp content: HC

Admin not liable for WhatsApp content: HC

Vaibhav.Ganjapure@timesgroup.com

Nagpur:27.04.2021 

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has ruled that WhatsApp group admins can’t be held liable for objectionable content posted by a member unless it is proved there was common intention or a pre-arranged plan between them.

“In the absence of a specific penal provision creating vicarious liability, the administrator can’t be held liable for objectionable content posted by a member. Common intention can’t be established in the case of WhatsApp service users merely acting as administrators,” the division bench of Justices Zaka Haq and Amir Borkar said.

Quashing a police complaint against a man from Maharashtra’s Gondia for alleged sexual harassment under Section 354-A(1)(iv), read along with Sections 509 and 107 of the IPC and Section 67 of the IT Act, 2000, the bench said a group admin doesn’t have the power to regulate, moderate or censor the content before it is posted.

“The administrators are the ones who create the group by adding/deleting the members. Every group has one or more administrators, who control members’ participation. A group administrator has limited power of removing/adding the members. Once the group is created, the administrators’ and members’ functions are at par with each other, except addition/deletion powers. But, if amember posts any objectionable content, s/he can be held liable under relevant provisions of law,” the court said.

Petitioner Kishor Tarone had moved court after a woman accused him, the admin of a WhatsApp group, of not removing another member who had used obscene language against her. She also alleged that the petitioner failed to ask the member to apologise and instead expressed helplessness.

The judges, however, made it clear that when a person creates a WhatsApp group, they can’t be expected to presume or to have advance knowledge of any illegal intent of a member.

BIG RELIEF: Common intention can’t be established in case of users acting as admins, the Bombay high court said