Bengaluru Court Restrains Publication Of Defamatory Content Against Reporter TV, Directs Take Down Of Links

The Bengaluru Principal City Civil and Sessions Court has passed an ad-interim order restraining various Malayalam TV channels, newspapers and online platforms from publication of defamatory content against Reporter Broadcasting Corporation Pvt Ltd, the company which owns and runs the Malayalam news channel Reporter TV.

The Court also directed that certain URLs, which allegedly carried defamatory content, be de-indexed and made non-searchable. The defendants were restrained from circulating, sharing, providing access to, or communicating any defamatory content. 

The ad-interim order, passed as per Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, was issued in a suit filed by Reporter Broadcasting Corporation alleging that the defendants were publishing defamatory content against it.

The Court observed that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case and was having "good reputation" and that if the defendants continued their acts, the plaintiff's "reputation will be harmed in the eyes of the society at large." The Court observed that the balance of convenience was in favour of the plaintiff and hence an ad interim order of temporary injunction was necessary.

The defendants in the suit are Google LLC, Meta Platforms Inc, X Corp, Manorama News, Asianet News, MediaOne TV, News18 Kerala, Zee News Malayalam, The New Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu, The News Minute, ETV Bharat, Kerala Vision News 24 x 7, India Today Malayalam. Apart from these, the suit also includes unknown persons who may have published similar content under the category of 'Ashok Kumar/John Doe' defendant.

The Court issued summons to the defendants returned on December 18.

Case : Reporter Broadcasting Corporation Pvt Ltd v. Google LLC and others | OS 7441/2025