The Delhi High Court has stepped in to shield NDTV’s identity from a swarm of digital impersonators running fake websites, social media handles, and messaging groups under the broadcaster’s name.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora granted an ex parte injunction restraining dozens of online platforms from using the “NDTV” mark, noting that the broadcaster had made out a strong prima facie case for urgent protection of its intellectual property.
According to NDTV, a network of unknown entities had been running domains like ndtvnews.com, ndtvhindu.com, ndtvforums.com, ndtvbd.com, and ndtv24.in, alongside over 120 X (formerly Twitter) handles, 35 YouTube channels, 16 Telegram groups, and 86 Facebook accounts—all designed to look like authentic NDTV outlets.
The Court found that such misuse was calculated to trick the public into believing these platforms were connected to NDTV, a risk that could cause reputational damage far beyond what money could repair.
With NDTV pointing out that its mark was officially recognized as a “well-known trademark” earlier this year, and stressing its reputation built since 1988 with recent revenues crossing ₹282 crore, the Court issued wide-ranging directions:
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Domain registrars were told to lock and suspend 13 infringing sites and disclose owner details.
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Google/YouTube were ordered to remove 35 channels and share operator information.
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Telegram was asked to block 16 groups and reveal IP addresses of their creators.
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X Corp. was told to suspend 121 fake handles.
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Meta (Facebook) had to pull down 86 accounts and pages posing as NDTV.
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DoT and MeitY were directed to instruct ISPs to block the offending sites.
The Court also gave NDTV the liberty to rope in new infringers as they surface, ensuring the injunction automatically extends to future violators.
The broadcaster had argued that the coordinated misuse amounted to a digital assault on its credibility as a trusted news organisation—an assault the Court has now sought to halt.
