The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is considering new regulations to moderate “perverse” online content and will put the draft rules up for public consultation, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said during a hearing before a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The case was taken up after Ranveer Allahabadia’s controversial viral statement on India’s Got Latent comedy show, which led host Samay Raina to remove the entire show and all its episodes from YouTube.
For context, this comes after the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General to draft a regulatory proposal to prevent the publication of content that is offensive to “well-known moral standards of our society.” Calling YouTubers broadcasters, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta described the India’s Got Latent situation as “perverse,” adding that “Something must be done about user-generated content (UGC). There is some lacuna [gap] in what is called UGC.”
On Regulating YouTubers
“I can have my own YouTube channel, I can have my own program. I am not controlled by any of the statutory regulations or at least the self-imposed regulations. It’s something very strange that I create my own channel, I create my own platform, and I am not accountable to anyone, I am not answerable to anyone… I would like to have a discussion with you,” said Mehta, referring to the possible policy regulation governing online speech for influencers and social media content creators.
When Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing disabled people, argued back citing the Shreya Singhal judgment and the risk of restrictions on free speech, Mehta said, “Freedom of speech is a valuable fundamental right, but it cannot lead to perversity or obscenity. The difficulty is that young boys and girls of 10 years are more technologically savvy than we are. They have easy access to all this. We cannot do anything and everything under the guise of freedom of expression.”
Mehta stated that the ministry had filed a note with the court indicating that it was still considering how to address user-generated content and had not yet proposed any measures in this regard. However, he noted that the ministry had proposed guidelines for broadcasters and digital content.
On Defining Anti-National Content
Justice Suryakant questioned the extent of self-regulation when it comes to sensitive matters such as national security or content perceived as “anti-national.”
“The regulations also govern intermediaries. And the question, which is really troubling us, is where the content is perceived as ‘anti-national.’ Where the content is perceived as disruptive of societal normalcy, will there be a self-regulating responsibility of the intermediaries to curate those materials and not permit circulation?” he asked.
When Bhushan argued that terms like “anti-national” are too broad and vague, Justice Kant asked, “An…
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