Delhi High Court Orders Takedown Of Social Media Posts Alleging Amul Supplies Cow Meat

The Delhi High Court has ordered the takedown of social media posts claiming that Amul supplies cow meat, holding that the content was prima facie disparaging and appeared designed to provoke public sentiment against the dairy cooperative.

Justice Jyoti Singh observed that the posts and videos demonstrated a deliberate attempt to associate the AMUL brand with cow meat and inflame public sentiment.

“The narrative and the posts are prima facie disparaging and demonstrate a deliberate attempt to sensitize public sentiments relating to cow meat in India and illustratively, one such narrative in the caption is “Amul Doodh ki aad mein Gau Mans Supply”. The impugned publications have been and are being disseminating on various social media posts and is rightly urged by the counsel for the Plaintiffs has far and wide and global reach. The content of the impugned publications is causing harm to the formidable goodwill and reputation of the Plaintiffs for their products sold under the well-known mark AMUL since 1958,” the Court observed.

The order was passed in a suit filed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) and Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited, the registered proprietor of the AMUL trademark.

According to the plaintiffs, a video published on Facebook on April 7, 2026, showed a signboard bearing the name of GCMMF while asserting that the premises shown constituted a facility where cartons containing cow meat were stored.

The plaintiffs contended that the cartons shown in the video bore labels stating “fresh frozen buffalo meat” and displayed the brand name “Al-Jaza”, while the narrative repeatedly juxtaposed the name and signboard of GCMMF with visuals of meat products.

The plaintiffs further contended that the impugned publications called upon consumers to boycott products sold under the AMUL mark and portrayed the plaintiffs and their products as untrustworthy, unethical and religiously offensive.

They argued that the publications were freely accessible worldwide through social media platforms and that their continued circulation posed an imminent and continuing threat to their goodwill, reputation and commercial interests.

“Once a reputation is lost, no amount of monetary compensation can retrieve the damage,” counsel for the plaintiffs argued.

After examining the impugned publications and posts on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and X, the Court held that the content was causing harm to the goodwill and reputation associated with the well-known AMUL mark.

The Court also noted, “For the sake of anonymity, contents and texts of the impugned publications/videos and the screenshots placed on record are not being extracted and included as a part of this order.”

Holding that the plaintiffs had made out a prima facie case and were likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of interim protection, the Court restrained five defendants and all others acting on their behalf from uploading videos or any other form of publication containing content disparaging the plaintiffs or the well-known AMUL mark.

The Court directed the account holders behind the impugned Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and X posts to take down five specified URLs within 36 hours of receiving the order and restrained them from re-uploading identical publications, videos or social media posts until further order

The Court further clarified that if the defendants failed to remove the URLs within the stipulated period, the plaintiffs could notify the concerned intermediaries, which would then be required to take down the content within 36 hours of receiving such intimation.

Meta was directed to disclose BSI details, including names, complete addresses and other particulars, of the operators of specified Facebook and Instagram accounts within four weeks.

X was directed to disclose similar details relating to the account operating at @Bharatvasi6, while YouTube was directed to disclose corresponding details relating to the account operating the channel "@DhenuTV".