New Delhi, June 20 -- The Delhi high court on Friday indicated that the Union government was empowered to direct social media intermediaries to act against viral posts falsely claiming that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, several Supreme Court judges and Union ministers had travelled to London earlier this month to participate in a badminton tournament at public expense. Justice Tejas Karia made the oral observations while hearing a petition filed by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), which sought removal of social media content alleging that a large Indian delegation comprising senior judges and ministers had attended a badminton event in the United Kingdom. The court reserved its order after hearing submissions from the Centre and the petitioner. Appearing for the Union government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the posts being circulated on social media were "completely false and misleading" and sought to create a fabricated narrative around the visit of certain constitutional functionaries to the United Kingdom. The posts claimed that CJI Kant, Supreme Court judge justice Vikram Nath, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju were among those who had participated in the purported tournament in London. "The photographs being circulated are not from London at all," the SG informed the court, adding that the images were actually taken during a badminton event organised at Delhi's Thyagaraj Stadium in November 2025. The Centre further argued that despite efforts to publicly clarify the facts, the misinformation campaign continued to spread online, warranting intervention to identify those responsible. Justice Karia observed that social media platforms and intermediaries could be required to furnish basic information on users responsible for disseminating such content, while emphasising that any further action would lie within the statutory framework administered by the Union government....