Bengaluru court restrains media, tech platforms from disseminating defamatory vidoes on Siddaramaiah
A Bengaluru civil court has issued an injunction against 42 media and tech platforms, prohibiting the dissemination of defamatory videos targeting former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The court also ordered major platforms like YouTube and Facebook to block specific URLs linked to the alleged honey-trap narrative.
Why it matters
This case highlights the ongoing legal tension between political reputation management and digital content moderation on global tech platforms.
A Bengaluru civil court on Tuesday issued an ad-interim ex-parte temporary injunction restraining further circulation of two videos telecast on two private YouTube channels making allegedly defamatory remarks against former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The interim order restrains 42 media houses, including newspapers, television channels, digital platforms like YouTube, Yahoo, Google and Facebook, from disseminating the impugned videos, their captions, clips, extracts, or substantially identical versions through any medium.
B. Pushpanjali, judge of the 19th additional city civil and sessions court, Bengaluru, passed the interim order on a suit filed by Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Additionally, the court directed YouTube, Yahoo, Google and Facebook, to forthwith disable access to and block the specified URLs of the two videos telecast on the YouTube channels on September 27, 2026, with title “Karnataka Honey Trap Nexus Part-1”, and October 2, 2026 with the title “Live: Biggest CD Blast in Karnataka Politics?”.
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