Social media PIL: Furnish Central govt guidelines, says MP HC

The Madhya Pradesh High Court Tuesday directed a petitioner, seeking KYC norms for social media platforms, to furnish within a fortnight central government guidelines relating to the usage of Facebook and Whatsapp.

A division bench Acting Chief Justice R S Jha and Justice V K Shukla directed advocate Amitabh Gupta, who filed the PIL, to furnish guidelines issued by the Union government relating to operation of Facebook and WhatsApp.

The plea seeks directives from the court to the Union and state governments to ensure Facebook gives permission to an individual to open an account only after Know Your Customer (KYC) details are furnished, Gupta said.

The PIL sought direction to governments to direct Facebook to go for KYC verification of existing users and terminate those accounts which do not respond.

The petition also seeks direction to Facebook to ensure an individual wanting to open an account provide at least one ID detail like Aadhaar card number, driving licence or voter ID.

Gupta said his PIL sought that Facebook evolve a process of verification which ensures a person opening an account provides his or her photograph.

In addition, the PIL seeks direction to every Whatsapp group containing more than 50 members to add the mobile number of a policeman provided by the local police station where the group operates.

The court questioned the petitioner on whether the central government had issued any guidelines related to social media.

"I told the court that certain guidelines are issued by the government but those are not related to the relief demanded in this PIL," Gupta said.

"I filed the PIL to ensure healthy use of social networking sites, namely Facebook and messenger service Whatsapp. These social sites are largely misused to spread fake news, and fake accounts are opened due to certain deficiencies in its operational procedures," he said.