SC red flags Centre’s data monitoring plan

Says move to track online content will make us surveillance state, next date of hearing on August 3

The Narendra Modi Government’s plan to open a social media hub in each district for “monitoring online data” has not gone down well with the Supreme Court. On Friday, a concerned apex court while hearing a PIL on this issue said such monitoring of social media accounts of citizens will make us a “surveillance state”. The Court requested the Attorney General to assist on behalf of the Centre on August 3, the next date of hearing.

Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress MLA from West Bengal, moved the PIL against a tender floated by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), a public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, inviting bids for establishing Social Media Communication Hub across every district in the country.

The last date for receiving the bid is August 20.

Arguing for the petitioner, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, along with advocate Nizam Pasha, pointed out that the Government wanted to control social media content of citizens. In the tender document it was stated that the hub will act as a “technology platform” to collect digital media chatter from all core social media platforms and digital platforms such as news, blogs, etc., in order to be the “eyes and ears” of the Government in each district and provide real-time updates from the ground. This hub would be manned by media professionals appointed on contract basis.

Appreciating the concerns of the petitioner, the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said, “This is like becoming a Rs surveillance state’ where the Government can have a 360 degree view of every individual’s WhatsApp content.”

Singhvi pointed out that this project covered all social media platforms and will be a grave threat to constitutional guarantees of free speech and expression besides privacy.

The petitioner heaved a sigh of relief as the next date of hearing is well in advance of the deadline for opening of bids. The Centre had claimed that the pilot project will help the Ministry to understand the impact of various social media campaigns conducted on the Centre-run schemes. .

However, the petitioner stated that the said initiative was a ploy by the Government to track social media accounts such as those on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, and even e-mails in the garb of disseminating information on public welfare schemes.