Make Separate Laws for Regulating Social Media Platforms: Plea in Supreme Court Seeks Direction to hold Responsible all Social Media Houses for Spreading Hate Speeches in Society
(Judicial Quest News Network)
A Petition if filed in Supreme Court alleging that all the social media houses are responsible for spreading the hate speeches and fake-news in the country due to which many communal clashes are triggered in India.
The petition by Advocate Vineet Jindal, filed through Advocate-on-Record Raj Kishore Chaudhry, submits that most of the communal clashes in India has been triggered by social media posts and platforms in the recent past.
The pleas pray for directing the respondents to make separate Laws for regulating Social Media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram.
The petitioner has made Union of India Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, The Ministry of Telecommunications, Twitter Communications India Private Limited as Face Book India as Respondents.
The petitioner has also urged the top Court to direct the Central Government and social media website like Facebook and Twitter to develop an auto removal mechanism for hate speech and fake news.
The petitioner has pointed out that “our country like India, which is perpetually on a communal tinderbox, where religious sentiments run deep, where respect for certain public and historical figures always come accompanied with veneration for their demi-god status, it doesn’t take much for malice to be coated with a toxic communal hue. And since one could argue about a plausible, legally sound meaning of “grossly offensive” or “menacing” till the cows come home, the damage spreads like wildfire, and social media only aggravates the condition”
The plea has submitted a range of social media posts which has triggered communal clashes in the country there had been a couple of horrific communal riots. Social media has been playing a harmful role in inciting communal violence in India and time has come to check its misuse.
Social networking sites are a threat to national protection as they are used as instruments for drug trafficking, money laundering and match – fixing, terrorism, and instigating violence and for rumor tools etc.
Social media instruments like Blogs, Micro blogs, Dialogue Boards, SMS and probably the most burning difficulty, i.e. social networking web sites like the Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and so on. Social media may also be defined, among other matters, as tools, how they’re used, by means of whom they are used and for what intent can characterize either a risk or a possibility for country wide protection, it’s itself shouldn’t be noticeable as a capabilities chance to national security however folks that use these tools may pose an expertise threat. It’s now for the reason that social media environments are main sources of knowledge for working out the dynamics of the diffusion of know-how and human conduct. Evidence means that social media had an effect on events equivalent to Assam Riot, Muzaffarnagar riots, Godhra Riots, Babri Masjid riots, Delhi
riots etc. Businesses representing an expertise risk to country wide safety like global terrorist organizations, Transnational Crime Orgs, Cracker organizations, devout sects, Hacker businesses, NGO”s, global companies, Allied overseas states, terrorist companies and so forth. It is, therefore, respectfully submitted that the time has come this Hon’ble Court must intervene and direct the respondents to make laws as prayed for in the present writ petition so that the Social Media Platforms can be regulated as per India Laws and under the Constitution of India.
The petitioner in his prayer adds that a direction may be given to appoint an expert investigating officer in every case registered for spreading hate or fake news through social media platforms.
