Gujarat HC Notice To Google For Blocking Man’s Email Account Over Nude Childhood Photo

The Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to tech giant Google for blocking a man’s email account over uploading his nude childhood photo on Google Drive.

Google India Pvt Limited had blocked the email account of the petitioner for “explicit child abuse” after he uploaded on Google Drive a photo of his grandmother bathing him when he was two years old, PTI reported.

The court of Justice Vaibhavi D Nanavati on March 15 issued notices to Google, the central and state governments returnable on March 26.

Reportedly, the petitioner, Neel Shukla, a computer engineer, uploaded childhood photographs on Google Drive, including one of him being bathed by his grandmother as a toddler. 

The tech giant blocked Shukla’s account in April last year for violating its policy regarding such contents showing “explicit child abuse”, his counsel Dipen Desai told the court.

Shukla went to the High Court on March 12 when the company couldn’t solve the problem through its complaint system, he explained.

Desai told the court that since Google blocked Shukla’s email, he couldn’t check his emails, resulting in business losses.

As per the report, the petitioner, in his plea, said, “Google says this amounts to ‘explicit child abuse,’ and they have blocked everything. I have not been able to access my email and my business (is affected) as everything is blocked.”

Shukla had reached out to the Gujarat police and the Centre’s Department of Science and Technology, the nodal agency for such issues in India, but they did not take action. This led him to seek legal intervention.

The petitioner also requested an urgent hearing as he received a notice from Google stating that the data linked to his account would be deleted in April, a year after it became inactive.

Meanwhile, last year October, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued notices to multiple social media platforms to remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their websites.

The ministry had sent the notices to X (formerly Twitter), Telegram and YouTube. It warned that non-compliance with the order will entail strict action, including withdrawal of safe harbour protections.

Besides, there have been numerous instances of authorities directing social media platforms, especially YouTube, to ban video channels and handles for being detrimental to national security, issues related to public order and for spreading fake news.