Supreme Court Transfers All Cases Concerning Regulation Of Social Media From Various High Courts To The Apex Court
[ By Bobby Anthony ]The Supreme Court has directed all cases concerning regulation of social media to be transferred from various high courts to itself.The order was passed in response to a transfer petition filed by Facebook and WhatsApp seeking transfer of various pending cases to the Supreme Court.A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said the matter will be heard in January...
The Supreme Court has directed all cases concerning regulation of social media to be transferred from various high courts to itself.
The order was passed in response to a transfer petition filed by Facebook and WhatsApp seeking transfer of various pending cases to the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said the matter will be heard in January 2020 after the central government formulates new guidelines on intermediaries.
Earlier, Facebook had said that 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 Supreme Court that two petitions had been filed in the Madras High Court and one each in the Bombay High Court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The Supreme Court was informed that the Tamil Nadu is not opposed to the transfer of the case from the Madras High Court to the Supreme Court.
It may be recalled that a primary case concerning linkage of Aadhaar with social media and WhatsApp traceability was pending before the Madras High Court.
When the matter was taken up for hearing, Attorney General for India KK Venugopal, arguing for the State of Tamil Nadu, said that the Information Technology Act provides for decryption of data and that Section 69 of the Act empowers the government to ensure that data from intermediaries may be decrypted.
However, the Supreme Court noted that while the provision empowers the government in such a manner, intermediaries cannot be forced to decrypt the data for the government under those provisions.
Senior Counsel Shyam Divan, representing the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), interjected to submit that the hearing in the Supreme Court should be restricted to the transfer petition alone.
Earlier, the IFF had opposed the transfer of the matter to the Supreme Court in the light of the fact that pleadings before the Madras High Court are nearly complete.