According to media reports, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting instructed 12 news organizations and independent journalists on Tuesday to remove content deemed defamatory about industrialist Gautam Adani's Adani Enterprises, following a Delhi court order dated September 6.
News outlets such as Newslaundry, The Wire, and HW News, along with journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ajit Anjum, and Ravish Kumar, satirist Akash Banerjee, and content creator Dhruv Rathee, were among those who received notifications to take down such content. The notice was also distributed to Meta and Google, the parent companies of Instagram and YouTube.
The ministry mandated the removal of 138 YouTube links and 83 Instagram posts. These encompassed not only investigative reports but also satirical videos and incidental references to the Adani Group.
The ministry's notice references a Delhi court ruling that temporarily prohibited five journalists and three websites from releasing purportedly defamatory content regarding Adani Enterprises. The journalists mentioned in the order are Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, and Ayush Joshi. The websites affected by the order are paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org, and adanifiles.com.au.
The issue involved a defamation lawsuit initiated by Adani Enterprises, claiming that journalists, activists, and organizations had harmed the company's reputation, resulting in billions of dollars in losses for its stakeholders. Adani Enterprises serves as the leading company of the Adani Group.
On September 6, Special Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh from the Rohini Courts issued an ex parte injunction supporting the company, instructing the defendants to delete the content from their articles and social media posts. The order stated that if deletion was not possible, the content must be removed within five days. An ex parte order is one that is passed without hearing the other side in a legal dispute.