Abstract<\/b><\/p>\n
The internet is one of the most used and innovative additions in the lives of people in this modern world. With the arrival of social media, the internet took socialising to a whole new level because initially it became the medium of sharing thoughts and soon grew into a medium of official communication between people and people, government and government and government and people. With all sorts of information on the social media, humour is one of the biggest user-generated and shared content. The internet brought the expression of humour in the form of satire, sarcasm, and wit with social media posts on the fingertips and memes all over the place, bringing out the dark sense of humour hidden in people as well. Getting in trouble for humour isn’t new, but with the vast reach of the internet, people posting from one corner of the country and someone getting immediately offended from another corner of the country has become common. This opens room for debate on the questions like \u2018How can someone be arrested for a joke?\u2019, \u2018How can a joke be criminal?\u2019, \u2018Should law take social media seriously?\u2019, \u2018Is arresting for a social media post a violation of free speech?\u2019 and \u2018Do we really need laws to monitor everything on social media?\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n
The present elaborated discussion is a study of various cases in India related to humour and social media and observes how humour is used as a tool to commit crimes, and how laws are used against them, reasonably and unreasonably. It also observes the nature of people over the internet and how it affects their real lives. It also studies the laws present in India to analyse what the country requires in order to prevent the misuse of both, the laws and the social media, and in the end, concludes with a suggestion of separate Media Law and why it is necessary.<\/i><\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHumour is to speech what salt is to food<\/i>\u201d.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The internet is \u201ca cooperative message-forwarding system linking computer networks all over the world<\/i>\u201d.2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The rise of the internet has given a new platform to the people and has grown enough to become a part of reality. From a common citizen’s social media profile to official government notifications being released on websites, with the passage of time, the internet not only remains a source of information and education, but also of global trade & commerce, of personal and professional connection, and of charity & crime.<\/p>\n The swiftness with which the internet has integrated into the lives of people, it would not be wrong to state that it is now an extension of their own personality. Due to the degree of anonymity and vast reach it provides, it brings out the untamed selves of people, which can be closely associated with what Sigmund Freud referred to as the Id,3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0making the internet the \u201cWild West\u201d.4<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0\u201cResearchers assume that analysis of comic texts provides us with important insights about what is lurking in the social mind behind the fa\u00e7ade of platitudes, conventions, and political correctness\u201d.5<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0One of the basic reasons behind this is that, over the internet, there exists a very low chance of face to face backlash. Even though countries across the world have taken steps to counter it,6<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0a complete success in preventing Cybercrime is nowhere in sight.<\/p>\n Along with all types of content, the internet has now also become a platform for sharing humour in an electronic form, which can be done in the form of texts, images, videos or other formats. \u201cRather than light-hearted entertainment, jokes are in fact important arenas in which sensitive and troubling issues are processed and negotiated<\/i>\u201d.7<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Sigmund Freud happens to be the most important authority on jokes and he called them \u201ca combination of [comic] technique and [humorous] thought<\/i>\u201d.8<\/a><\/sup> Another popular term on the internet in terms of humour is \u2018Memes\u2019. The term meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book \u2018The Selfish Gene\u2019. The Oxford Dictionary defines meme as \u201cAn element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, especially, imitation<\/i>\u201d.9<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The term is basically associated with pictorial or video jokes, perhaps because they (as a form of presentation of humour or idea), grew on the internet the most, where they spread, most of the times as a trend, through immediate sharing or imitation.<\/p>\n [Read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n \n Note:<\/strong><\/span> T<\/span><\/span>his Article was first published in RMLNLU CMET Law Journal<\/span><\/span> 6 CMET (2019) 77.\u00a0 <\/a>The extract has been reproduced with the kind permission of RMLNLU.<\/span><\/p>\n *<\/sup>\u00a0Student, BA LLB (Hons), KIIT School of Law Bhubaneswar, Odisha.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0\u2018Political Satire in Modern India\u2019 (The Hindu<\/i>, 6 April 2018) <https : \/\/thehindu.com\/thehindu\/lr\/2003\/04\/06\/stories\/2003040600010100.htm.<\/a>> accessed 14 January 2019.<\/p>\n
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