The Delhi High Court on Thursday, May 29 directed YouTuber Mohak Mangal to remove defamatory portions from his recent video targeting news agency Asian News International (ANI). The direction came during a hearing on a defamation suit filed by ANI, following allegations made by Mohak in a video titled ‘Dear ANI’ on his YouTube channel.
According to Live Law, the bench of Justice Amit Bansal took objection to the language used after watching the video. In strong oral remarks to Mohak’s counsel, the judge said, “Hafta wasooli, gunda raaj. You will take down this… Do it today. Whoever is using this kind of language, please take instructions.” He further observed that Mohak “should have conveyed the message in a more civilised manner.”
Representing ANI, senior advocate Amit Sibal along with advocate Sidhant Kumar argued that the video was not just critical but defamatory and inflammatory. Sibal said, “He starts a media campaign against me that has spiraled into a concerted campaign which is nothing short of vilifying and per se defamatory. They are calling me [ANI] thugs, extortionist, gunda, other expletives.”
Sibal also referred to social media posts by comedian Kunal Kamra and Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who both publicly supported Mohak’s video and echoed his concerns over ANI’s alleged coercive practices. Sibal argued that there appeared to be a “concerted effort” to malign ANI’s reputation across social media platforms.
Defending Mohak, senior advocate Chander Lall and advocate Nakul Gandhi contended that ANI had not followed due legal procedures. They claimed that ANI resorted to threats and coercion instead of lawful action. “If they have a grievance against me, they can’t call me and extort money from me that I will block your channel if you don’t pay,” Lall told the court, as reported by Bar & Bench.
However, the court remained unconvinced by the language used in Mohak’s video. “You want to use videos without taking a license. You use, why would you come out with these kinds of statements? How do you justify that?” Justice Bansal questioned.
In ‘Dear ANI’, Mohak Mangal alleged that ANI was misusing YouTube’s three-strike copyright policy to coerce independent creators into subscribing to its services. Mohak claimed that ANI demanded Rs 40 lakh annually to license their video clips, threatening him with multiple copyright strikes. YouTube’s policy mandates that channels receiving three copyright strikes are permanently removed from the platform along with associated channels.
Mohak further alleged that ANI was not open to settling the issue via compensation or deletion of the video, but instead insisted on either paying a penalty of Rs 5 lakh per disputed video or buying their subscription. He dubbed ANI’s actions as “extortion” and accused the agency of exploiting YouTube’s copyright strike policy. Several other creators also joined in his campaign, saying that using portions of clips constituted “fair use”.