'There Should Be A Separate 'META Court': Delhi HC Judge Jests As Another Instagram Copyright Case Lands In Court

The Delhi High Court judge hearing a copyright dispute involving a content creator and Meta remarked in jest that “there should be a separate court, a META court, funded by META” after yet another Instagram copyright-strike dispute came up before the court.

Justice A.J. Bhambhani made the oral remark while hearing Jitender Singh's suit against Meta and other defendants over copyright strikes on his Instagram account.

The court declined to pass a blanket order protecting Singh from future copyright strikes. It said each such action would have to be assessed on its own merits.

Singh runs a technology-focused Instagram account with around 3.3 lakh followers. He told the court that his account had received a series of copyright strikes between April and August 2026.

He said he was initially unaware of Meta's grievance mechanisms. He had to hire people to help him navigate the process.

Meta's counsel told the court that Singh's account was now active. His posts had been restored and the strikes had been removed following an internal review.

Singh disputed this. He told the court that as recently as the previous night, his account had continued to display a message restricting his ability to post.

During the hearing, Meta's counsel pointed out that Singh had only used Meta's in-app appeal mechanism. He had not approached the Grievance Officer mechanism mandated under the Information Technology Rules.

Singh's counsel then sought a broader protective direction. He asked whether any future adverse action against the account could be presumed to be unwarranted.

The court declined to do so.

“So the assumption is that any activity adverse to you is false? It can't be the assumption. What if there is a genuine copyright strike?” the court remarked.

The court said it could not issue a standing direction shielding Singh's account from scrutiny regardless of the circumstances.

“I can't give you a carte blanche that please never, ever entertain any copyright strike against Mr. Jitender Singh. Any copyright strike, remove it without asking, just remove it because it's Mr. Jitender Singh. Can I pass that order? Whether or not the grievance is genuine, we'll have to assess that. That kind of an order can't be given,” Justice Bhambhani said.

The court recorded Meta's submission that Singh's account had been restored and the strikes withdrawn following its internal review.

It granted Singh's counsel up to ten days to take updated instructions on the current status of the account.

Singh's counsel also sought to have the pending interim applications allowed in the meantime.

The court noted that notice had not yet been issued on those applications.

“How can I allow them? I'm not even issuing... notice on the application. I can't do that,” the court said.

The matter is next listed on October 7, 2026.