Piracy means copying and sharing someone else’s work without permission. It may seem harmless, but it costs writers, musicians, filmmakers and publishers billions of rupees every year. The govt also loses a lot of GST money. That’s why stronger action against piracy is needed.

A Delhi teacher, Neetu Singh, recently won an important court case against Telegram. She had written a book to help students prepare for competitive exams. Soon after it was published, illegal copies of her book began spreading on Telegram. In 2020, she asked the court to make Telegram reveal who was sharing her book. Telegram argued that it had to protect free speech and users’ privacy. But the Delhi High Court ruled in Singh’s favour. This decision could help many other writers, publishers, actors and musicians whose work is copied without permission.

Piracy is not a new problem, but it has changed. Earlier, people sold fake software, music CDs and movie DVDs in markets. Today, most piracy happens online. An EY report released two years ago said that the “piracy economy” had become the fourth-largest player in India’s media and entertainment industry by revenue. It estimated that piracy was costing the govt ₹4,313 crore in GST every year. Pirates were earning about ₹22,000 crore while creators were losing money they deserved. The report also found that more than half of people who watched or listened to media had used pirated content, and most of them were under 35.

Stopping piracy has become much harder because illegal copies now spread through messaging apps and social media. Apps like Telegram and WhatsApp use encryption, making it difficult to find the people sharing pirated content. Telegram has been especially popular with pirates because it lets users send very large files, including full high-quality movies. People can also watch or open these files inside the app instead of downloading them. During the Covid pandemic, piracy on Telegram increased 11 times.

Telegram may not be encouraging piracy on purpose, but it has not done enough to stop it. India is Telegram’s biggest market, and the company has already faced questions from the govt over the NEET-UG paper leak. Now the govt also wants it to do more to fight piracy.

But this problem cannot be solved by targeting just one app. New AI tools can help spot unusual sharing activity and identify pirated files. If technology companies, publishers and the govt work together, they can reduce piracy while still protecting people’s privacy.

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