The Allahabad High Court has ruled that simply liking a post on social media does not amount to publishing or transmitting it, and therefore, does *not attract any punishment under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. This section deals with punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
The single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Srivastava made this clear while quashing the case against one Imran Khan, who was accused of liking a so-called provocative post on Facebook.
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“A post or message can be said to be 'published' when it is posted, and 'transmitted' when it is shared or retweeted,” the Court clarified.
The Court further pointed out that Section 67 of the IT Act is specifically related to obscene content—that is, content which is lascivious or appeals to prurient interest, meaning sexually explicit content.
“The words 'lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest' mean relating to sexual interest and desire, therefore, Section 67 I.T. Act does not prescribe any punishment for other provocative material,” the Court noted.
In this case, Imran Khan had allegedly liked a Facebook post by one Chaudhari Farhan Usman, which mentioned an assembly before the collectorate to submit a memorandum to the Hon’ble President of India. It was alleged that this post resulted in the gathering of around 600–700 individuals, mainly from the Muslim community, who held a procession without official permission, creating a potential threat to public peace.
“Liking a post will not amount to publishing or transmitting the post. Therefore, merely liking a post will not attract Section 67 of the I.T. Act,” the Court stated.
The Court observed that there was no content of provocative nature found on the applicant's Facebook account, nor was there any solid material connecting him to the post in question.
The defence counsel argued that nothing objectionable was found on the applicant’s social media, while the prosecution relied on the case diary, claiming the content had been deleted but was circulated on WhatsApp and other platforms.
However, the Court found that there was no concrete evidence to prove that the applicant had committed any offence, and thus, quashed the case against him.
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“Even otherwise, from the material on record, it appears that no message which could be provocative in nature is available, and merely liking a message will not attract penalty under Section 67 of the I.T. Act or any other criminal offence,” the Court concluded.
Case title - Imran Khan vs. State of U.P. and Another 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 138
