Chief Justice NV Ramana on Thursday expressed concerns over social media platforms and web portals lending communal colour to news items as he was hearing a batch of petitions including the one filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind seeking directions to the Centre to stop the dissemination of "fake news" related to a religious gathering at the Nizamuddin Markaz last year.
“Everything shown in a section of private news channels bears a communal tone. Ultimately, this country is going to get a bad name. Did you ever attempt to regulate these private channels," the Supreme Court bench said.
"If you go to YouTube, so much is shown in one minute. You can see so how much fake news there is. Web portals are not governed by anything. There is an attempt to give communal colour to news and that is a problem. Ultimately it brings a bad name to the country," the Chief Justice said. to this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, "Not only communal but also planted news."
The new IT rules have made social media intermediaries more accountable, the top law officer of the Union government informed the apex court.
The Centre also informed the Supreme Court that the new IT rules have been challenged in various high courts and urged the top court to list the transfer petitions along with present petitions. The top court agreed to hear after six weeks the Centre’s plea seeking transfer of petitions on IT rules from various high courts to the Supreme Court.
{{/usCountry}}The Centre also informed the Supreme Court that the new IT rules have been challenged in various high courts and urged the top court to list the transfer petitions along with present petitions. The top court agreed to hear after six weeks the Centre’s plea seeking transfer of petitions on IT rules from various high courts to the Supreme Court.
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