Supreme Court’s YouTube channel hacked, streams videos promoting cryptocurrency

NEW DELHI: The official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India was hacked on Friday. The channel, which is typically used to live stream hearings of Constitution Bench cases and matters of public interest, is now showing videos promoting XRP, a cryptocurrency developed by the US-based company Ripple Labs.
Following the hacking of Supreme Court's YouTube channel, the channel has been taken down.“This is to inform all concerned that the YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India has been taken down. The services on YouTube channel of Supreme Court of India will be resumed shortly,” Supreme Court said in a statement.
The incident came to light when a blank video titled "Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC's $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION" went live on the channel. Brad Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple Labs, a company that has been in legal disputes with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The hackers also seem to have made earlier videos of Supreme Court hearings private.
This comes as the SC was scheduled to hear several crucial cases including a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that seeks a fixed time limit for the Centre to notify the appointment of judges recommended by the SC Collegium. Another important case on the docket is SpiceJet’s plea against a Delhi high court verdict grounding three of its aircraft engines due to payment defaults.
Additionally, the Court was set to hear a plea from the Muslim side contesting an Allahabad high court order, which rejected their challenge on the maintainability of cases filed by Hindu parties related to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute.
Recently, Supreme Court also live streamed hearing in the sensitive RG Kar hospital and college rape and murder case.
SC started live streaming proceedings of all constitution bench hearings following a path-breaking verdict on the matter in 2018 in a unanimous decision taken by a full court meeting headed by then CJI UU Lalit.