Supreme Court’s YouTube Channel Restored After Hacking

Supreme Court on Friday announced that its YouTube channel is now live as it was temporarily disabled due to hacking.

“The YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India is live and up. The services on the YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India have been resumed,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.

Earlier, the Supreme Court YouTube channel was temporarily disabled after it was hacked and broadcasted videos promoting a cryptocurrency developed by a US-based company.

Reportedly, the channel was renamed “Ripple” and a video titled “Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC’s $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION” was live on the compromised channel.

Further, the hackers made other hearings live-streamed on the channel private.

In its e-initiative measures, the Supreme Court began live-streaming proceedings of the Constitution Bench on YouTube and used artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology for live transcription of such hearings of national importance. Recently, the judicial hearings in the NEET-UG matter and R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital suo moto case garnered huge public views.

The top court, in its judgment in the Swapnil Tripathi (2018) case, had favoured live streaming the proceedings in important cases.

Thereafter, the full court decided to live-stream the proceedings of Constitution benches to provide citizens from every nook and corner of the country to witness the Supreme Court proceedings.

In August last year, during the Constitution Bench hearing in “Re: Article 370 of the Constitution”, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had said the top court was setting up its own cloud software for video conferencing to enable virtual hearings in all lower courts across the country.

“In Phase III of eCourts (Project), we have a huge budget, so we are in the process of setting up our own cloud software for video conferencing,” he said.

The Chief Justice had pointed out that during the pandemic, courts across India held as many as 43 million hearings through virtual mode.