Government must control hateful content on TV and social media
HATEFUL content against particular communities, particular organisations, particular politicians and other professionals in the electronic and social media in India has gone unchecked. In fact the hateful content in volumes is million times more than truthful reports and commentaries on events and trends. It was good to see the Supreme Court take note of it on Thursday. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde pulled up the Centre for not controlling the content that ‘instigates’ hate on television and has potential to agitate people and lead to violence or trigger riots. The bench was hearing a batch of pleas over alleged hateful reporting demonising Muslims against the backdrop of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in early 2020 in Delhi. The Supreme Court has woken up late. Hateful reporting and commentaries have been going on in the electronic and social media for the past several years. The media has got away under the cover of ‘free speech’.
The electronic and social media indulged in provocative reporting and commentaries as recently as the Republic Day when a section claiming to be a part of the farmers’ union tractor rally broke barricades to reach the Red Fort and hoisted Sikh and kisan flags there. The reporting and commentaries painted the whole lot of protesting farmers as anti-national, without bothering to verify whether the farmers’ union leaders who had been sitting in protest for two months were leading the section that indulged in violence and the insult to the absolute sway of the national tricolor at the Red Fort.
The SC bench asked the government why it was not doing anything to control hateful content. The explanation given by the Solicitor General on behalf of the government was that there was no pre-censorship of news, so the government could not control such content. The Solicitor General’s argument was a lame excuse. True there is no censorship. But there are plenty of laws under which anyone publishing, broadcasting or propagating hateful content that demonizes, defames and vilifies a community, a group or a person can be prosecuted. The same government that expresses helplessness at controlling hateful content in the media on grounds of there being no censorship does not spare anyone who publishes or propagates ‘provocative’ content against the government or certain political parties or organisations. The police do not think they are curbing free speech when they are dealing with the opponents of the government. We will have to see how much of SC prodding will work on the government. The bench said government control of hateful content cannot be equated with measures to curb free speech. The government had power to control news that could create divisions and hatred but must use it judiciously.
The same government that said the right to free speech tied their hands had suggested to the top court last September that it frame regulatory mechanisms for curbing hateful, insidious and communal content on electronic and social media. While arguing on the matter relating to hate content broadcast by Sudarshan TV, the government had told the court there was an existing framework laid down in recent rulings. The Supreme Court had exercised restraint in imposing a pre-broadcast injunction in keeping with its position that prior restraint of the media is generally violative of the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The bench had however expressed keenness to frame guidelines for the electronic media. The court had termed the channel’s effort to highlight Muslim community entry into civil services as an attempt to infiltrate as ‘insidious’. The court observed that the intent, object and purpose of the episodes were to vilify the Muslim community.
Nothing has changed. In fact hateful content in broadcasts and social media has increased. Let us hope the government takes note of the apex court’s directives and puts in place a mechanism to prosecute all, without any religious or political discrimination, who use the electronic and social media to spread disinformation and hate. India is a democracy where criticism is sacred. If criticism is allowed to degenerate into hateful propaganda, India will cease to be a democracy.