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Freedom Of Speech
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday asserted that freedom of speech cannot be a cover for criminality, illegality and user harm, and emphasised that intermediaries have to be accountable for the content on their platforms. The minister was addressing the valedictory session of the National Conference on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) organised by the National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi. Chandrasekhar made it clear that safety and trust cannot be sacrificed at the altar of freedom of speech and privacy, according to an official release. "For decades the model that was followed was that intermediaries were not accountable about the content on their platforms, and encouraged anonymity to prevent traceability of the illegal content. This helped the proliferation of child sexual abuse and other illegalities on the internet," Chandrasekhar said. An intermediary wanting to do business in India is under obligation to carry out due diligence
A statement made by a minister cannot be attributed vicariously to the government even when applying the principle of collective responsibility, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer said no additional restrictions against free speech can be imposed except those mentioned under Article 19(2) of the Constitution. "Statement made by a minister even if traceable to any affairs of state or protecting the government cannot be attributed vicariously to the government even applying the principle of collective responsibility. "Fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) can be exercised even against other instrumentalities other than the state," the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, said. Justice B V Nagarathna, who was also part of the bench, wrote a separate judgement and said freedom of speech and expression is a much needed right so that citizens are well informed and educated on ...
The Centre favours upholding the Constitutional right of freedom of speech and expression, but posts on the social media against the country, its armed forces, sovereignty and bilateral relations would be blocked, said Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr L Murugan here on Saturday. Murugan, on a 6-day visit to Kerala, made it clear that the sovereignty and security of the country were of paramount importance and there would be no compromise on that, said an official release. He spoke of the huge investments the Central government has made in the fisheries sector in the last eight years compared to the first 60-65 years after independence. The Minister told reporters that the Centre has invested Rs 32,500 crore in fisheries in the last 8 years compared to Rs 3,000 in the 60-65 years, according to the release. He said in order to usher in a blue revolution, Rs 20,000 crore has been sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday heard a petition by microblogging platform Twitter against the Central government's orders asking it to block some accounts, URLs and tweets. Twitter had challenged the orders on grounds of violation of freedom of speech and the authorities not issuing notice to the alleged violators before asking Twitter to take down content. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had on September 1 filed a 101-page statement of objection to Twitter's petition. Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for Twitter on Monday online, argued the company was following the rules laid out in the Information Technology Act. He contended that Twitter as a platform was affected by the Centre asking it to take down accounts without issuing notice to the alleged violators. The Centre was asking for wholesale blocking of accounts which will affect its business, according to him. He said several prominent persons have accounts on Twitter. Another .