India?s social media monitoring plan worries Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: A government plan to monitor social media could turn India into a “surveillance state”, the Supreme Court was cited as saying on Friday as it asked the government to respond to such worries within two weeks, a lawyer involved in the case said. The government wants social media users monitored and fake news identified and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in April invited bids from companies to do that. But a member of parliament challenged the plan, following which a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court began hearing the matter. “Tracking and regulating social media content will transform us into a surveillance state,” one of the three judges observed, according to the petitioner´s lawyer, who declined to be identified. Indian media also reported that the Supreme Court raised concerns about the plan to track social media.

from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2mfuxvh