New Delhi: Supreme Court Chief justice NV Ramana lashed against Online Media, criticising that Web portals ‘lack accountability’. Ferocious comments were made by Supreme court today, while hearing a case against media reports on the Tablighi Jamaat gathering last year in Delhi that was blamed for a spike in Covid cases in the first few months of the pandemic.
Chief Justice NV Ramana criticised online platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for spreading fake news, without showing responsibility towards public. ‘The problem is, everything in this country is shown with a communal angle by a section of the media. That is the problem. The country is going to get a bad name ultimately,’ CJI explained.
The court also noticed that web portals only listen to powerful voices and write anything against judges, institutions without any accountability to its audience. ‘Web portal only worry about powerful men and not judges, institution or common people. That is our experience,’ added the court. ‘These web channels, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube… They never respond. There is no accountability. About the institution they write badly and then they do not respond… This is the condition of institutions, forget individuals… They consider only people who are powerful. Institutions, common man, judges, they do not… This is the reality,’ the three membered bench noted.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind asked the court to direct the Centre, to stop dissemination of ‘fake news’, related to the gathering at the Markaz Nizamuddin and take strict action against those who are responsible for it. Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta explained about the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which provide a redressal mechanism and timely resolution of grievances of social media users and over-the-top platforms.
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