New Delhi, June 11 -- The Delhi High Court has held that social media platforms are under an obligation to promptly remove unlawful and objectionable content, including material that undermines the independence of the judiciary or maligns institutions and individuals, without waiting for specific court directions. In a detailed order released on Wednesday, a vacation bench of Justices Neena Bansal Krishna and Madhu Jain said intermediaries cannot remain "silent spectators" when such content comes to their notice. "While individuals who commit such contumacious and scandalous acts, are to be dealt with sternly as per law, intermediaries can also not be a silent spectator and wait for the directions from the Courts. Therefore, as soon as it comes to the knowledge of intermediary that there is an information, which is being used to commit an unlawful act, it is under an obligation to immediately remove the information, data or communication link residing in or connected to resource controlled by the intermediary and expeditiously remove or disable access to that material," the court said. The court made the observations in its June 8 order on a plea moved by the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) seeking initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against psychologist and social activist Dr Kapil Kakkar over social media posts accusing a sitting Delhi HC judge of being a "murderer" and responsible for the deaths of six people in a building collapse in Saket last month. On Monday, the court directed Meta, Google LLC, X Corp and LinkedIn to take down the content, observing that the statements did not appear genuine and seemed intended to "scandalise the court"....