The Delhi High Court has asked the police to submit a status report on a plea seeking action against Facebook and its senior officials for their alleged criminal acts and ‘digital conspiracy’.
The court was informed by the Delhi Police Commissioner and its Cyber Crime Cell’s counsel that the complaint made by a company Vas Data Services, which was running its operations through its website www.yepme.com. has already been closed.
“At the outset, in reply to a specific court query it is informed by the learned counsel present on behalf of the ASC [additional standing counsel] for the respondent nos. 2 & 3 that the complaint made by the complainant has already been closed,” the HC order said.
“The status report in relation thereto be submitted by the State before the next date of hearing,” on April 15, the court said.
The plea said as per the platform’s offer, the firms opting to advertise on the space will have to pay for ad-services that would include clickable space on their website, as an advertisement, which when clicked by a Facebook user will redirect him to an external site or application link of the company.
The plea said the main purpose of the company to spend huge money on advertisement through the platform was to convert “clickers into buyers” but due to the alleged deliberate technical discrepancies, the prospective buyer never reached their website, causing a loss of business and reputation.
It alleged that the platform kept on charging money from the company and on checking the records, it was found that there was huge discrepancy in the amount charged and service provided, that is flow of traffic through clicking of advertisement.
The petition has sought directions to constitute a Special Investigation Unit (SIT) to probe the complaint.
