SC notice to govt, Twitter to check fake news, hate speech on platform

Notice comes amid govt-Twitter spat over content takedown requests made by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to the microblogging firm

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and social media companies including Twitter, based on a petition filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader that urged the government to create a mechanism to rein in fake news and provocative ads and messages on social media.

The court has sought responses from the government and companies to a public interest litigation (PIL), filed by Vinit Goenka in May 2020. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Dubey appeared for the petitioner on Friday.

The petition said that in the absence of any mechanism or law prohibiting Twitter or other similar social media platforms