The Sahyog Portal and the Debate on Digital Sovereignty
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance (Fundamental Rights - Article 19, Judiciary); Science and Technology (Information Technology Act - Sections 79, 69A; IT Rules 2021; Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre - I4C).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (Polity & Governance): Government policies and interventions; Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability. The regulation of social media is a key governance challenge.
General Studies Paper 3 (S&T and Security): Role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges; Basics of cyber security.
General Studies Paper 4 (Ethics): Ethical dimensions of freedom of speech and the responsibility of corporations.
Key Highlights from the News
X Corp.'s petition challenging government orders to remove content via the Sahyog portal was rejected by the Karnataka High Court.
This portal is a mechanism to facilitate actions under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000.
X Corp. argued that the government was misusing Section 79 to bypass the stringent procedures under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing the Supreme Court's ruling in the Shreya Singhal case as precedent.
However, the court ruled that X Corp., being a foreign company, cannot claim the fundamental right under Article 19 (freedom of speech) which is available only to Indian citizens.
The court also observed that since the new IT Rules of 2021 are in effect, the Shreya Singhal judgment of 2015 is not entirely relevant to this case. This is a significant legal interpretation.
Experts fear that this ruling may lead to increased government control over online content and potentially widespread censorship.
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