The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed strong displeasure over-reporting in a communal tone in a section of the media. The court said that such reports ultimately bring a bad name to the country. The court made this remark while hearing a petition filed regarding the gathering of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi last year. Chief Justice NV Ramana said that the problem is that a section of the media is showing every single incident in the country from a communal angle.
The court expressed concern over the fake news being spread on social media. Also commented on the accountability of the web portal. A bench headed by the Chief Justice said that no one has control over the web portal. Efforts are being made to give communal colour to every news, which is a big problem.
The Chief Justice said social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube do not respond to judges and keep writing against institutions without any accountability. There is no control over fake news on web portals and YouTube channels. If you go on YouTube, you will find how fake news is being circulated openly. Anyone can start a channel on YouTube.
Justice Ramana said that forget for the people, they keep writing anything arbitrary for the institution and the judges too. He said that I have never seen action from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They are not accountable, they say it is our right. They only answer to powerful people.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta replied to the court that the new IT rules have been made to regulate social and digital media and efforts are on to regulate them. He urged the court to transfer the petitions challenging the IT rules in different high courts to the Supreme Court. Different High Courts are passing different orders. This matter is of the whole of India, so there is a need to see a holistic picture.
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