Delhi HC pulls up Meta over Rights Manager access, copyright strikes

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has questioned Meta over its eligibility criteria for accessing its Rights Manager tool after a content creator alleged that scammers were using the platform’s copyright protection system to issue fraudulent strikes against original content.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani asked Meta to place on record its policy and criteria for granting access to Rights Manager, including the basis on which applications from creators are rejected.

The court was hearing a suit filed by Mohit Kumar, an artificial intelligence, business and e-commerce coach who publishes educational content on social media under the handle “Rise With Mohit”.

Kumar alleged that scammers had downloaded his original videos, registered them through Meta’s Rights Manager as their own and subsequently used the tool to issue copyright strikes against his accounts.

Rights Manager is designed to help rights holders identify matching content on Facebook and Instagram and take actions such as monitoring or blocking material.

Kumar’s counsel told the court that he had applied for access to Rights Manager three times but was rejected without a clear explanation. The counsel also claimed that some users with only a few hundred followers had obtained access, while established creators with significant engagement and brand collaborations had not.

The court questioned why access to the tool was not available more widely and remarked that it was “like giving the key to the robber and not to the owner of the house”.

Meta told the court that the fraudulent copyright strikes against Kumar had been reversed and that content removed following those strikes had been restored. The company also said Kumar’s accounts had never been suspended.

Meta’s counsel said the company would examine Kumar’s application for Rights Manager access after verifying his claims and agreed to submit the relevant policy and eligibility criteria before the court.

The court directed that content removed following fraudulent copyright strikes should be restored if Kumar provides Meta with sufficient material establishing that the content belongs to him and that the strikes were fraudulent.

Justice Bhambhani also noted that similar concerns had surfaced in several cases involving content creators and said the issue required closer scrutiny.

The court observed that loopholes in the system were leading to increasing litigation and said they needed to be addressed.

The court has issued summons in the suit and notice on Kumar’s interim relief application. The matter will next be heard on September 24 along with a connected case raising similar concerns.