The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday restrained social media platforms, media agencies and the public from editing, morphing or unlawfully sharing live-streamed court proceedings, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain passed the interim order on a petition alleging that social media users were editing and sharing videos of court proceedings online, often as memes and short clips.

The restriction will be in place till the court gives its judgement on the plea.

The court also ordered the takedown of videos and short clips that allegedly violated the 2021 Madhya Pradesh Live-Streaming Rules.

The petitioner has sought the High Court’s intervention to stop social media platforms, content creators and the public from repurposing videos of the proceedings, contending that the act violates Rule 11(b) of the live-streaming rules.

The rules ban unauthorised recording, sharing or alteration of live-streamed court proceedings.

The petition said that the comment sections on some of the platforms contained offensive remarks about judges and lawyers, harming the judiciary’s public image.

The videos were being circulated with allegedly “spicier” captions to boost viewership and revenue from advertisements, the petitioner said.

The plea called for the removal of unauthorised content from social media platforms and urged criminal action against those violating the rules.

The court observed that live streams of the court proceedings were being misused through the creation of memes and short video clips on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, undermining the justice system, Bar and Bench reported.

The High Court said that social media platforms would have to seek permission to publish live-streamed proceedings and such posts must comply with the rules.

On September 24, the Karnataka High Court issued a similar order directing social media platforms Facebook, X and YouTube not to allow individuals to upload clips from live-streamed videos of court proceedings.

This had come after two video clips showing High Court Justice V Srishananda making controversial comments about a woman advocate and the Muslim community were widely shared online.

The Karnataka High Court had verbally observed at the time that stopping live streaming was not the solution to concerns about its misuse.