Social Media Governance
Each Forward Of Objectionable ‘Whatsapp Message’ Cannot Be Interpreted To Create Unrest To Attract Offence U/S 153A IPC: Bombay HC https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/high-courts/bombay-high-court-dnyaneshwar-rohidas-wakale-v-the-state-of-maharashtra-2024bhc-aug22690-db-forwarded-message-social-media-sections-295-a-153-a-ipc-and-section-3v-sc-st-act-1989-1552865 ByTanveer Kaur|27 Sept 2024 The bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice SG Chapalgaonkar observed, “People are required to exercise self restraint in such situation and not to forward whatever is received on such App or social media platforms. Anyway, each forward of such message cannot be interpreted to create unrest in the society or two groups of people or two races.”
https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/high-courts/bombay-high-court-dnyaneshwar-rohidas-wakale-v-the-state-of-maharashtra-2024bhc-aug22690-db-forwarded-message-social-media-sections-295-a-153-a-ipc-and-section-3v-sc-st-act-1989-1552865
https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/high-courts/bombay-high-court-dnyaneshwar-rohidas-wakale-v-the-state-of-maharashtra-2024bhc-aug22690-db-forwarded-message-social-media-sections-295-a-153-a-ipc-and-section-3v-sc-st-act-1989-1552865
https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/high-courts/bombay-high-court-dnyaneshwar-rohidas-wakale-v-the-state-of-maharashtra-2024bhc-aug22690-db-forwarded-message-social-media-sections-295-a-153-a-ipc-and-section-3v-sc-st-act-1989-1552865
टेलीग्राम के CEO की गिरफ़्तारी, क्या बंद हो जाएगी कंपनी
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyHelpl5_TA Aug 28, 2024
टेलीग्राम के सीईओ पावेल ड्यूरोव को रिहा कर दिया गया है मगर उनकी गिरफ़्तारी के बाद से अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता के भविष्य को लेकर बहस हो रही है। सोशल मीडिया साइट को लेकर यह नया मामला है जिसे लेकर दुनिया भर में चर्चा हो रही है। पूछा जा रहा है कि क्या सरकारें अब इस बात से बेपरवाह हो गई हैं? उन्हें कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता कि पत्रकारों और सोशल मीडिया साइट को बंद करने से जनता क्या सोचेगी? टेलीग्राम के CEO की गिरफ़्तारी पर हमारा यह वीडियो देखिएगा।
How Telegram’s Founder Went From Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg to Wanted Man https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/technology/pavel-durov-telegram-founder.html Mr. Durov’s anti-establishment streak appears to have gotten him into a fresh round of trouble with the authorities. On Saturday, he was arrested in France as part of an investigation into criminal activity on Telegram, the online communications tool he founded in 2013, which had grown into a global platform defined by its hands-off approach to policing how users behaved.
A two-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court is now hearing a challenge filed by Proton AG, the Swiss company that runs the encrypted email service, Proton Mail. On April 29, a single judge of the high court had directed the Union government to block the service in India, setting off a wave of criticism from digital rights advocates. https://scroll.in/article/1084862/why-a-court-ban-on-encrypted-email-service-proton-mail-has-sparked-digital-privacy-fears
Many of them told Scroll that the court’s ban set a dangerous precedent that threatens the privacy of whistle-blowers, activists, journalists, and others who rely on encryption for more secure communications.
The case began when a Bengaluru-based organisation approached the High Court after some of its female employees were subjected to prolonged online harassment. The company received a torrent of emails from two Proton Mail accounts containing obscene and abusive content, including morphed images of the employees.
The company filed a police complaint and reached out to Proton Mail’s abuse team. While Proton disabled the offending accounts, it could not provide the company personally identifiable details of the sender of the mail.
Justice M Nagaprasanna took a stern view of the matter in his judgment. Describing the situation as a “menace”, he noted that Proton Mail had also been used to send bomb threats to schools and even to the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Concluding that the court could not remain a “mute spectator”, the judge directed the Union government to initiate proceedings to block Proton Mail in India under the Information Technology Act.
by Vineet Bhalla
28/07/2025
WhatsApp told the Delhi high court on Thursday that if it is made to break encryption of messages, then the social message platform will stop functioning. https://www.rediff.com/news/report/whatsapp-would-cease-to-exist-if/20240426.htm
The court is hearing petitions filed by WhatsApp LLC and its parent company Facebook Inc (now Meta), challenging the 2021 Information Technology rules for social media intermediaries requiring the messaging app to trace chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information, for hearing on August 14.
26/04/2024
MEITY blocks information requests citing national security and the requirement to maintain “strict confidentiality”. A Delhi high court case may help change practices around internet censorship in India. https://thewire.in/rights/dowry-calculator-censorship-information-india
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) is empowered to issue directions for blocking access to information (including tweets, websites – anything available on the internet) under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The procedure it follows to do this is detailed in ‘The Information Technology (Procedure and safeguards for blocking for access of information by public) Rules, 2009’ or the IT Blocking Rules, 2009.
Ever since billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, the company has increasingly acceded to government requests for censorship and surveillance. The company’s own data showed that it did not decline a single such request between October 2022 to April 2023, unlike before Musk’s acquisition.
“This lack of transparency also allows for the complete lack of accountability that exists in India’s blocking regime,” Tanmay Singh, Senior Litigation Counsel at digital rights advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) told Decode.
by Saurav Das
15/06/2023