CENTRE WITHDRAWS SOCIAL MEDIA HUB POLICY, SC INFORMED

Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the Union government has withdrawn the request for proposed notification to set up a social media communication hub to allow tracking of messages. The A-G made this submission before a three-judge Bench hearing a writ petition filed by Trinamul legislator Mahua Moitra challenging the move to set up a social media communication hub.

Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the Union Government has withdrawn the request for proposed (RFP) notification to set up a social media communication hub to allow tracking of messages.

The A-G made this submission before a threejudge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud hearing a writ petition filed by Trinamul legislator Mahua Moitra challenging the move to set up a social media communication hub.

The A-G said following the observations made by the Supreme Court on the last hearing, the Centre had withdrawn the RFP notification. The government will undertake a review of the whole issue and hence the petition has become infructuous, he said.

Taking note of the submissions, the Bench then disposed of the writ petition.

In the previous hearing, the court 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”.