Supreme Court takes note of 'communal angle' in fake news reports
Chief Justice NV Ramana on Thursday expressed concerns over
social media platforms and web portals giving 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.
New Delhi :
“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.
