The Editors Guild of India on Wednesday said it was deeply concerned about a Delhi court temporarily restraining journalists from publishing allegedly defamatory content about Adani Enterprises, and the Centre ordering the removal of YouTube links and Instagram posts about the firm.

The guild said such developments are a step towards censorship, and undermine freedom of speech.

On September 6, a Delhi court temporarily restrained journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi, and the websites are paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au from publishing allegedly defamatory material about industrialist Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises.

Special Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh of the Rohini Courts had passed an ex parte injunction in favour of the company. An ex parte order is one that is passed without hearing the other side in a legal dispute.

The court had clarified that it was not issuing a blanket order restraining the defendants from “fair, verified and substantiated” reporting and from hosting, storing or circulating such articles, posts or webpage links.

However, on September 16, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting cited the court order to direct 12 news outlets and independent journalists to remove allegedly defamatory content about the Adani Group. The Centre’s order pertained to 138 YouTube links and 83 Instagram posts.

Among those who got notices to remove such content were news outlets Newslaundry, The Wire and HW News, journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ajit Anjum and Ravish Kumar, satirist Akash Banerjee, and content creator Dhruv Rathee.

Barring Guha Thakurta, none of the others who got the ministry’s notice on September 16 were party to the proceedings before the Delhi court.

Commenting on these developments, the Editors Guild said it was concerned “that such blanket powers granted to a corporate entity, coupled with ministerial action in issuing takedown directions, are a step towards censorship”.

“They risk chilling legitimate reporting, commentary and satire, and undermine the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression,” the organisation said.

It said it was “equally troubling” that the Centre ordered the removal of the YouTube links and Instagram posts.

The Editors Guild added that the “extension of executive power” had effectively given a private corporation the authority to determine what constitutes defamatory content regarding its affairs, including the ability to order takedowns.

It urged the judiciary to ensure that defamation claims are addressed through due process, and not through “one-sided injunctions that amount to prior restraint”.

Court order

The order issued on September 6 came on a hearing of a defamation suit filed by Adani Enterprises alleging that journalists, activists and organisations had damaged the company’s reputation and cost its stakeholders billions of dollars. Adani Enterprises is the flagship company of the Adani Group.

The court directed the defendants to expunge the material from their articles and social media posts. If expunging the content was not feasible, they must remove it within five days, the order said.

On the basis of the court order, the Union government ordered 138 YouTube links and 83 Instagram posts to be removed. These included not just investigative reports, but also satirical videos and incidental mentions of the Adani Group.

Copies of the notice were also sent to Meta and Google, which own Instagram and YouTube.