It seems the government has sprung to action and has taken to task microblogging sites like Twitter and others , for spreading misinformation , hate , communal disharmony , revenge porn , sex videos , child pornography and anti national content and posts . The attacks on Red Fort and the hijacking of the fort by the farmers was when the government sprung to action thousands of twitter accounts where blocked and closed , these where the ones asking people to join protesters at the red fort and insight violence . The government has been very critical of toxic content and has even formed a youth and volunteer task force to read analyze and remove toxic and socially harmful content and bloc social media accounts .
The Ministry of Broadcasting has also formed a panel that will review and censor content running on OTT platforms currently , censorship has arrived on OTT and it is very bad news for freelance content providers and actors alike . More censorship emend people who do know the nuances of making film will have a say on what people should see and that is very bad news for OTT professionals .
Where as under article 19 (2) we have the right of freedom of speech and expression these government officials say that that right is not absolute and in many court cases it has been muzzled and suppressed as well .This is exactly what the government is doing right now in the garb of nationals security and communal harmony . The government is again trying to tell us what we can or cannot see , say or write that to me is gross intrusion off my rights and privacy .
Where their have been government ministers who have issued statements saying they respect Article 19 (2) and everyone has a right to say as they please , their are guidelines that need to be followed and they want social media sites to make money in the country and drive FDI but they must all follow the law of the land and respect it’s cultural roots and heritage .
Government is saying there is a line in the sand and there would be fins and punishment for those who break that line , again big brother is watching the state is always on the back of its citizens and this is no exception .
Article 19 (2) of the constitution is not absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions as well . That reasonable is decided by the judge himself who is seeing the case papers . The government is saying that in the matters of the state and national security and integrity that reasonable will be exercised and sent out a clear warning to micro blogging sites that if they do not remove objectionable content from there sites and regularly monitor there content , there would be consequences in the ambit of the law of the land .They however prised the foreign exchange and business these social media sites got to the country and urged them to do business in the country at the same time respecting the law of the land .
