Plea in SC seeking framing of laws against fake news

A petition was filed Friday in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre to frame laws to curb the menace of fake news.

The plea said there should be accountability, liability and responsibility of the authorities and departments concerned to prevent spread of such news.

The plea, filed by advocate Anuja Kapoor, sought directions to the ministries of Home Affairs, Law, Information and Broadcasting and Electronics and Information Technology to constitute a committee for tackling fake news on various social media handles.

The petition has referred to unverified news on social media relating to the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan.

"The non-restraining of the various fake news travelling on social media handles leads to crimes against humanity such as mob lynching, abetment to murder, sedition, communal riots, influence in elections, mass hysteria," the plea said.

It sought framing the necessary guidelines, appropriate laws and bye-laws and appropriate punishment for its violation.

"There are no set laws relating to restricting fake news, which travel on various social handles, no proper guidelines and punishments/penalties for those social media handlers.

"There are no accountabilities, liabilities and responsibilities of the Centre to counter/restrict fake-news by organizing press-conference or putting it on the concerned official website by various concerned authorities for general public to access the authenticated news," the plea said.

It sought directions for issuing notice to the Centre for organizing press-conference or uploading/circulating/broadcasting the authentic news on the official website of the authorities concerned to counter fake news in the public interest.

"Different recent fake news and misinformation on Indo-Pak tension are flooding the social media nowadays, and videos of previous air-shows and photos of crashing fighter jets were being peddled as the latest from both the countries on various platforms.

"The intensifying tension between India and Pakistan since Tuesday's air strike has turned the social media into a virtual battlefield and fact-checkers are left grappling with a deluge of misinformation and fake news," the plea said.