Regulation of Social Media Intermediaries: The 'Sahyog' Portal Debate
UPSC Prelims Subject
Indian Polity and Governance: Powers of the Executive, Role of Judiciary, Information Technology (IT) Act, Freedom of Speech.
Science and Technology: Social Media Platforms, Cybersecurity.
Current events of national and international importance.
Key Highlights from the News
To demonstrate how easily fake social media accounts can be created and misused, the Central Government created and displayed a fake account in the Karnataka High Court.
Officials created this account on the social media platform X, under the name 'Karnataka Supreme Court', a non-existent institution.
This incident occurred while the court was hearing a petition filed by X Corporation, challenging blocking orders issued by central and state authorities under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
X also opposes the Central Government's new 'Sahyog' portal, which helps government agencies issue blocking orders. X described it as a "censorship portal."
The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, informed the court that the government created this fake account to show the potential for misuse of intermediary platforms.
COMMENTS