New rules to regulate social media to be finalized by January 15: Centre

New Delhi : The Centre on Wednesday told Supreme Court that the new rules to regulate social media will be finalised by January 15 to ensure stopping of hate speech, fake news and anti-national activities.

Presenting its case, the Centre told the apex court that government does not favour invading the privacy of citizens but at the same time, “privacy has to be balanced with national interest and sovereignty”.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre told the court, “No intermediary can say that in guise of privacy, terrorist activities can be protected.” 

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by Facebook to transfer all its cases in different High Courts to itself.

Facebook had said that the transfer of cases would serve the interests of justice by avoiding the possibility of conflicting decisions from the high courts. The social media giant told the apex court that two petitions had been filed in the Madras High Court and one each in the Bombay and Madhya Pradesh High Courts.

In an affidavit filed with the apex court on Monday, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) had argued that though “technology has led to economic growth and societal development, on the other hand, there has been an exponential rise in hate speech, fake news, public order, anti-national activities, defamatory postings, and other unlawful activities using internet/social media platforms”.

The Centre then asked the apex court to grant three months time to figure out rules and regulations associated with the usage of social media.