SC declines plea to regulate online content, cites Nepal unrest over social media ban
Advocate Varun Thakur, who argued the petition, pointed out that the issue concerns children who are exposed to pornographic content which is easily available on digital apps.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking regulation of online content, noting that a similar move to ban social media platforms in neighbouring Nepal had sparked massive youth protests and resulted in the government’s collapse.
“You know there was an attempt to ban social media in Nepal and you saw what was the consequence,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai said, as the court was examining a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one BL Jain seeking ban on pornographic content online.
The bench, also comprising justice K Vinod Chandran, felt that the issue squarely falls within the domain of policy-making and the Parliament and government is open to consider these issues.
“This lies within the policy domain. It is better you make a representation to the policy makers. We cannot entertain this,” the court said as it dismissed the petition.
Advocate Varun Thakur, who argued the petition, pointed out that the issue concerns children who are exposed to pornographic content which is easily available on digital apps. He said that several foreign jurisdictions have issued strict curbs on watching of pornography and requested a similar action plan to be implemented in the country.
Nepal’s ‘Gen Z protests’ were triggered by their government’s decision in September to ban 26 social media platforms, including microblogging sites such as WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. The decision was seen as an attempt to muzzle dissent over clips showing lavish lifestyles of sons and daughters of the country’s politicians. These videos sparked outrage among youth distressed by the high unemployment rate.
Thakur said children at a very young age have been exposed to digital devices, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic when schools migrated to the online platform. He said, “These devices have no mechanism to restrain the watching of pornography. There is no effective law to deal with this issue and watching of the pornography adversely affects especially growing minds aged between 13 and 18.”
Jain, who claimed to be a social activist based in Madhya Pradesh, produced internet pornography statistics, which suggests that in every second, 5,000 porn sites are watched. The petition further states, “More than 2 crore porn videos or porn clippings are being launched through Internet or porn videos each year. Further, more than 20 crore porn video/porn clippings including child pornography, are freely available in the Indian market.”
The petition argued that section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, allows Centre to issue directions for blocking public access of any online content. It is in this light that the petition urged the Centre to formulate a national policy and draft an action plan.
