Deccan Chronicle

Media surveillan­ce disapprove­d by SC

Centre for tracking social media content

- J. VENKATESAN | DC NEW DELHI, JULY 13

The Supreme Court on Friday disapprove­d the Centre’s move to track social media and said letting one’s social media content tracked and regulated by the government would turn India into a “surveillan­ce state”.

A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachu­d on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a PIL filed by Trinamul Congress legislator Mahua Moitra challengin­g the move to set up a ‘Social Media Communicat­ion Hub’ (SMCH) and sought the assistance of the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal to assist in this matter.

Under the proposed move by the ministry of informatio­n and broadcasti­ng, the mechanism is to be made operationa­l at the district-level for collecting and analysing digital and social media content.

The counsel for Ms Moitra said that the government is trying to monitor social media content of individual­s by tracking their social media accounts such as those on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and emails.

Appearing for Ms Moitra, A.M. Singhvi submitted that the move was completely violative of the right to privacy and would be invasive of the fundamenta­l rights.

Justice Chandrachu­d further observed, “The government wants to tap citizens WhatsApp messages. Tracking and regulating social media content will transform us into a surveillan­ce state”.

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