Andhra Pradesh HC issues notice to Centre seeking regulation of social media posts targeted at the Judiciary

The Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking action against defamatory social media posts against the judiciary has issued a notice to the Centre, Andhra Pradesh government, Andhra Pradesh Police, and Internet companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp in a writ petition filed through the High Court’s Registrar.

The petition seeks action on two First Information Reports (FIRs) that complained against unknown people posting defamatory and scandalous material on social media platforms against the judiciary and has sought a direction to social media platforms to devise a self-regulatory framework in order to prohibit the posting of defamatory, incriminatory and abusive content on their platform with respect to Indian judiciary, and remove all such derogatory posts and contents which are subject to FIR. According to the Court, abusive content against the Court should be declared illegal.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court wants amendments in the Intermediary Guidelines of the Information Technology Act to provide certain protections to the judiciary.

The High Court has earlier issued suo moto contempt notices to 49 persons, including a Member of Parliament and a former Member of the legislative assembly, alleging that they made abusive social media posts against some judges.