Pirated content on WhatsApp and Telegram: How is it regulated in India

Post pandemic, OTT and other On-demand platforms witnessed a huge surge in viewership. Despite this, Netflix and Amazon Prime video reported significant losses due to piracy. Piracy has been of the major issues for entertainment and creative industry in India. The movie industry is the most vulnerable to piracy. Pirated content can be found very often downloaded from different Torrent websites.  Downloading any protected content from torrents, be it a simple video, song, or a movie, amounts to copyright violation of the owner. The 2022 U.S. Chamber International IP Index highlights that an effective IP system encourages innovators and creators to embrace new ideas, take risks, and drive change. But due to the high rates of piracy, India still ranks 43rd out of 55 countries as per the International IP Index, 2022. Pirated content circulation on WhatsApp and Telegram Telegram saw piracy on its platform jump a staggering 1092% or about 11 times during lockdown, while the Internet and mobile overall saw a 348% increase. WhatsApp groups are also known for sharing of links to websites that host pirated content. However, the scale is much smaller due to file sharing limitations. Since law enforcement agencies don’t have access to these encrypted platforms, takedown of links is often slow and manual as owners scroll through these groups by themselves. The heightened privacy and broadcasting potential on WhatsApp and Telegram, with lesser limits on the number of people who can join a channel/group has made it easy for such platforms to share pirated copies of copyrighted content. Telegram allows up to 200,000 people to join a private channel or chat group. Users can share files as large as 1.5GB. In comparison, WhatsApp only allows 256 people to join a group. Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram has open API on which developers can create their own Telegram apps. The platform allows developers to build specialized tools for Telegram, integrate any services. The whole bunch of services make it a go-to platform for many users. While media organizations get their share of cyber-attacks, it is human corruption in the production house which leads to the rise of piracy. Current Indian Laws to avoid piracy on such apps Anti-piracy laws in India protect the owners of copyrightable work in terms of economic rights, moral rights, and rights management information. Online platforms such as Telegram which qualify as ‘intermediaries’, enjoy ‘safe harbour’ under the IT Act. Safe harbour allows such platforms protection from prosecution against infringement and transmission of unlawful content by the users of such platforms. Intermediaries are obligated to take down content only upon possessing specific knowledge of transmission of unlawful content. This higher test of ‘specific knowledge’ has also made tracing of pirated content harder for authorities. Recently, The Indian Judiciary has adopted this new concept of John Doe orders. In this order, the identity of the defendant is unknown while filing the petition and only a small description is provided. Producers of the Indian Film Industry are using these orders to deal with the problem of online piracy. By this order, any suspected website can be blocked before the release of new movies. But these orders are granted only after careful investigation of the circumstances. Conclusion In the present age of cloud computing and diminishing national boundaries in data storage, conventional concepts of territoriality cannot be strictly applied. The dynamic evolution of law is essential to ensure appropriate remedies in case of violation of copyright and other IP laws. The need of the hour is for legislation to step in. In India, no one gets punished for pirating content. There are civil remedies also available, but the damages granted are not much. The author is the CEO, Ennoble IP and a Patent law expert Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.