The Delhi High Court was informed on Wednesday by the Central Government that it would develop a framework to govern social media platforms, but that it would not apply to ongoing issues such as account suspension by the platforms.
During a hearing before the bench of Justice Yashwant Varma on a number of petitions challenging the suspension of social media accounts by social media sites including Twitter, the attorney for the Central Government made this claim.
We have looked up in terms of your lordship’s last order, centre advocate Kirtiman Singh said in a statement to the court. At some point, the amendment will happen, but when is actually unknown (when). It will be a prospective change that won’t apply to any current situation.
The judge questioned why the suggested procedure wouldn’t address the existing complaints and account termination. According to the court, it needed to know how any new regime would affect the cases it was hearing.
Before rendering a decision, the court stated that it wanted to know if there was any regulatory framework that they were planning to introduce and whether it would have an effect on this batch.
The court had inquired of the centre last month as to whether any proposed regulatory measures pertaining to social media sites were being considered.
On December 19, 2022, the court listed the cases after giving the centre time to prepare. ” If the scope of the regulatory power that you propose to invoke is known we will know what the contours of our jurisdiction area.”
The bench is now considering a variety of petitions challenging the suspension of users’ social media accounts by social media platforms. Senior attorney Sanjay Hegde submitted one of the petitions in opposition to the suspension of his Twitter account.
The centre has also included an affidavit in one of the petitions stating that social media platforms must respect citizens’ fundamental rights and adhere to Indian law and that an individual’s liberty and freedom cannot be sidestepped or abandoned in the wake of technological advancement and social media.
According to the centre, comprehensive deplatforming goes against the spirit of Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Indian Constitution, and social media services shouldn’t be forced to shut down or be suspended permanently in any circumstances.
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