Freedom Of Speech

Freedom of speech must be protected

Congress MP Manish Tewari gave an adjournment notice in Lok Sabha to have a discussion on the essence, substance and spirit of Freedom of Speech accorded to Members of Parliament

He said that the House should suspend Zero Hour and other businesses of the day to have a detailed discussion on the issue

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

After Musk said he had "freed" the bird, referring to Twitter's logo, the European Commission's Internal Markets Commissioner warned that in Europe "the bird will fly by" EU's rules

Twitter has challenged the blocking of only 39 URLs out of 1,474 accounts and 175 tweets

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 .

Harnessing dissent can help us develop faster and better

Geetanjali Shree, the first Indian to join the esteemed club of International Booker-winning authors, described the attack on Rushdie as an "inexcusable and inhuman" act.

While the Constitution has worked well to preserve our rights and institutions, it hasn't worked well at all in at least 105 ways because it has been amended that many times

On Monday, Musk took a jab at Twitter's stance, tweeting that the legal battle would lead to the company disclosing information on bots and spam accounts in court

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour

The Bengal BJP leadership sought the arrest of TMC MP Mahua Moitra for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus with her controversial remarks on Goddess Kali

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra on Tueday said, "For me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess"

Mohammed Zubair of Alt News, 33, is currently in police custody and is being questioned over one of his objectionable tweets which he posted in 2018

Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested on Monday by the Delhi Police over a 2018 tweet

Twitter India has blocked over 80 links, including tweets and some accounts, after receiving legal notices from the central government sent through 2021

Earlier this week, Musk gave an ultimatum to Tesla employees to either return to office or get out, saying they "should pretend to work somewhere else" if they disagree with the company's policy