Supreme Court: The notification proposing a social media hub that could act like a monitor regarding the online activities of the citizens has been turned down by Centre. The bench comprising of CJ Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar and Dr DY Chandrachud was informed by AG KK Venugopal that the stated notification about “social media hub” was being withdrawn.
The move of creating a social media hub was leading towards the creation of a surveillance state. The petition concerning the same was file by TMC MLA Mahua Moitra in which she stated that the government had issued a Request for Proposal (RFP). The tender will be opened on August 20 for a software that would do 360-degree monitoring on all social media platforms.
Therefore, the bench had sought AG KK Venugopal’s assistance for the same in Mahua Moitra v. Union of India, 2018 SCC OnLine SC 697, for which today the Supreme Court was told that the notification is being withdrawn by the Centre.
[Source: PTI]
