Govt likely to regulate social networking sites

The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that it will come out with a regulatory regime for data protection, asserting that data involved fundamental rights of individuals.

This submission was made before a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra which was examining the contentious issue of the 2016 privacy policy of popular messaing platform WhatsApp.

During the arguments, Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha contended that data of users was “integral” to the Right of Life and Personal Liberty guaranteed under the Constitution.

“Data of user is connected to the personality and it is an integral part of Article 21 (Protection of Life and Personal Liberty of the Constitution). If any contractual obligation impinges upon that, it will have ramifications. We will come out with regulations (on data protection),” he said.

The bench also comprising Justices A K Sikri, Amitava Roy, A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar observed that it would have to “draw a line” on where data could be used and where it could be “misused”. During the hearing, the court said “arbitrary” conditions could not be imposed on the users and though the Centre has said it would come out with a regulatory regime, the issue was how to control it till the time the regulatory measures were put in place.

The bench also observed that such platforms cannot impose conditions which violate rights of citizens as choice of the users cannot be “curtailed”. –PTI