The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine the report filed by the central government to set up a ‘Social Media Communication Hub’ for monitoring online data, and observing that it will be “like creating a surveillance state”.
The three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, issued a notice to the Union Government on a plea filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Mahua Moitra and sought a reply within two weeks. The decision of the central government to monitor social media content at a district level was challenged by Mahua Moitra.
The court has also sought Attorney General K K Venugopal’s assistance in the matter.
Justice Chandrachud, one of the three judges on the bench, observed that “tracking and regulating social media contents will transform us into a surveillance state.”
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The Supreme Court also slammed the decision to monitor social media content. On August 24 last year, a nine-judge bench of the apex court had declared that privacy is a constitutional right.
In their order, the judges had cited various reasons for their conclusion and said: “The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.”
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had floated a proposal for the creation of a ‘Social Media Communication Hub’ which will enable the ministry “to grasp the effect of various social media campaigns conducted on various schemes run by the Government of India” to “improve the scope” of such campaigns and “to make a specific theme trending”
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