After Delhi HC order, Telegram discloses details of users sharing infringing material

New Delhi, Nov 30

Pursuant to the Delhi High Court judgment of August 30 that courts in India can direct a messaging app to disclose the information of infringers, Telegram -- an instant messaging application -- has finally handed over the copies to the court.

The said data, which is in the form of a chart, shows the names of the admins, phone numbers, and IP addresses of some of the channels.

The channels were accused of unauthorised sharing of the study material prepared by Campus Private Limited and its teacher Neetu Singh for various competitive examinations.

Justice Prathiba M. Singh in the order dated November 24 said that the copy of the data can be supplied to the plaintiff's counsel but with clear direction that neither the plaintiff nor their counsel shall disclose the said data to any third party, except for the purposes of the present proceedings.

"To this end, disclosure to the governmental authorities/police is permissible," said the court, adding that the affidavit of Telegram along with the chart containing the data have been taken on record.

The court then directed the Registry to retain the said data in a sealed cover.

"List before the court for case management on February 14, 2023. This shall not be treated as a part-heard matter. The matter shall be listed before the Roster Bench," the court said.

Earlier, the court had directed Telegram to disclose the details of the channels/devices used in disseminating the infringing content, mobile numbers, IP addresses, email addresses, etc., used to upload the infringing material.

"The data relating to the infringing channels and the details as to the devices/servers/networks on which they are created, their creators, operators, including any phone numbers, IP addresses, and email addresses, used for this purpose shall be disclosed by Telegram within a period of two weeks thereafter," the court had said.

Recently, the HC had directed Telegram to comply with its 2020 order asking it to disclose the Basic Subscriber Information of the users involved in unauthorisedly uploading and sharing the ePaper (PDF) -- which can be accessed only after subscription -- of Dainik Jagran newspaper for free in their channels.