Internet can cause unimaginable disruption to democratic polity: Centre to SC

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told the Supreme court that no doubt technology had led to economic growth and development, but there was also a rise in hate speech, fake news and anti-national activities, while seeking three more months for finalising and notifying the rules that would regulate the functioning of social media intermediaries in the country.

New Delhi : The internet has emerged as a potent tool to cause "unimaginable disruption" to democratic polity, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday, while seeking three more months for finalising and notifying the rules that would regulate the functioning of social media intermediaries in the country.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) told the top court that though technology had led to economic growth and societal development, there was also an exponential rise in hate speech, fake news and anti-national activities.

A bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant took the affidavit on record after advocate Rajat Nair, appearing for the Centre, mentioned the matter and said they had sought three months' time for finalisation of the Information Technology Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules, 2018.

The affidavit was filed in a transfer petition moved by Facebook Inc., seeking transfer of cases filed in three high courts, relating to linking of social media profiles with Aadhaar.

The affidavit filed by Pankaj Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY, said, "As the internet has emerged as a potent tool to cause unimaginable disruption to the democratic polity, it was felt that the extant rules be revised for effective regulation of intermediaries, keeping in view the ever-growing threats to individual rights and the nation's integrity, sovereignty, and security."

"In view of the complexity involved in the matter and the significant impact it entails on the functioning of all stakeholders, including netizens, various government departments/ministries, social media platforms, messaging platforms, websites and mobile apps etc., a conscious and bona fide decision was taken by the respondent ministry to call for further inter-ministerial consultation so that effective, robust and comprehensive rules, covering all aspects of the matter, can be framed," the affidavit said.

It stated that after collating and analysing all the details as had emerged from the stakeholders' participation and inter-ministerial consultation, "the deponent (MeitY) has bona fide belief that a further period of three months would be required for finalising and notifying the final revised rules in accordance with law".

It said in the last few years, there was an enormous increase in the use of social media and with lower internet tariffs, availability of smart devices and last-mile connectivity, more and more people in India were becoming part of the internet or social media platforms.

"If on one hand technology has led to economic growth and societal development, on the other hand, there has been an exponential rise in hate speech, fake news, anti-national activities, defamatory postings and other unlawful activities using internet/social media platforms," it said.

Referring to a statement of the Union minister for MeitY given on July 26, 2018 in the Rajya Sabha, the affidavit said the government had promised to initiate a number of measures, including bringing amendments to the Intermediaries Guidelines Rules, 2011, to make intermediaries more liable towards the content that was published and transmitted in order to check misuse of social media platforms and spread of fake news.

It said the government had initiated a wide-scale consultation process to revise the earlier rules with the participation and involvement of all the stakeholders and that the draft rules, 2018 were published for public comments.

It added that a total of 171 comments were received by the ministry and to maintain transparency, all of those were published for counter comments.

The affidavit said multiple rounds of discussions involving various chambers of commerce, associations and social media companies were also held.

"Furthermore, inter-ministerial consultations were also initiated and undertaken to seek views of other ministries, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Commerce etc., on the draft revised rules," it added.

On September 24, the top court had observed that technology had taken a "dangerous turn" and asked the Centre to apprise it within three weeks about the time-frame needed to come up with guidelines to curb misuse of social media in the country.

Expressing serious concern over some social media platforms not being able to trace the originator of a message or an online content, the apex court had said the government must step in now.

The Supreme Court had earlier asked the Centre to clarify whether it was contemplating framing guidelines or putting in place a framework for linking social media accounts of users with their Aadhaar.

The court had said it would not go into the merits of the case and only decide the plea filed by Facebook Inc., which was seeking transfer of the cases related to Aadhaar-linking pending before the high courts of Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh to itself.

Seeking transfer of the cases to the top court, Facebook Inc. had contended that whether service providers could be asked to share data with probe agencies to help them in criminal investigation needed to be decided by the apex court as it would have a global effect.

The social media giant had pointed out that there were four petitions -- two in the Madras High Court, one in the Bombay High Court and one in the Madhya Pradesh High Court -- and that they contained almost similar prayers.