NEW DELHI : The Delhi High court on Tuesday sought response from Centre on a plea seeking directions to it to direct social media companies to remove illegal groups on their platforms for the safety and security of children in cyberspace.
The plea alleges that social media website promote unlawful groups of children and don’t remove them for business profit.
Response was also sought from social media companies Twitter, Facebook and Google by a division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.
The next date of hearing is on 14 July.
The order comes on an application moved by former RSS idealogue KN Govindacharya that highlights “the unlawful nature of illegal groups, which are not removed by the social media platforms for their huge business profit.”
“Due to the negativity, fake news and illegal content, many young lives are destroyed. Such groups are criminal in nature and do not deserve any protection of free/creative speech.” Plea filed by advocate Gaurav Pathak reads.
“Due to cheap data and rising smart phones, usage of social media has risen exponentially, but adequate safeguards are not being implemented in India…Invariably, with increased access to internet, more and more minors have joined social media, and this includes children who are less than 13 years of age. It is most humbly submitted that it is our collective responsibility to ensure a safe cyberspace for our children.” The plea reads.
“That the incident of ‘Bois Locker Room’ over Instagram shows one of the vilest forms of social media…Social Media companies are direct beneficiaries of fake users, as it increases their advertisement benefits. These fake users are also part of vested groups, who push illegal content to corrupt the minds of innocent children.” It added.
source: livemint
