Delhi High Court Directs Meta To Remove Zee's Copyrighted Content From 14 Facebook Pages

The Delhi High Court has recently directed Meta Platforms Inc. to take down infringing content uploaded by operators of 14 Facebook pages carrying Zee Entertainment Enterprises' television serials and web series.

The court passed the ad-interim order but declined, at this stage, to direct blocking of the Facebook accounts themselves.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani passed the order in a suit filed by Zee against Meta and 18 other defendants. Zee sought permanent, mandatory and dynamic injunctions restraining infringement of its copyright and broadcast reproduction rights. It also sought damages, rendition of accounts, disclosure, delivery-up and other consequential reliefs.

Zee's case was that operators of various Facebook pages were uploading its content and disseminating it on a real-time, continuing basis across Meta's platform through multiple log-in accounts and pages.

Senior Advocate Abhinav Mukerji, appearing for Zee, submitted that when take-down notices were issued to Meta, the platform sometimes restricted the take-down to certain geographical locations. However, the same infringing content continued to appear in other locations.

He further submitted that the Facebook pages were monetising Zee's content by carrying advertisements. He also argued that Meta appeared to be benefitting from such monetisation.

The court held, "this court is of the view that the plaintiff has succeeded in making-out a prima-facie case in its favour; that the balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants; and it would appear that irreparable loss and injury would be caused to the plaintiff if the interim injunction as prayed-for is not granted."

Accordingly, the court granted an ad-interim injunction against Meta and the Facebook page operators.

However, it clarified that it was "not persuaded at this stage to direct the blocking of the accounts." Instead, it directed Meta "to take-down the content with the URLs as set-out above."

The matter has been listed before the Joint Registrar on October 15, 2026, for completion of pleadings.