Combating online offence

The power of the online medium to allow anyone to become a publisher or broadcaster overnight has been causing considerable disquiet in some sections, leading to calls for strict regulation.

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The controversy over coarse comments made by a digital content creator, Ranveer Allahabadia, on a video show has snowballed into police FIRs, abuse and death threats, and demands for draconian retaliation. It is against this background that the Supreme Court has favoured a new control regime and emphasised the need for a neutral, independent, and autonomous body to regulate obscene, offensive, or illegal content on online platforms. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, while hearing a batch of cases that cover offensive content, expressed surprise that anyone could start a YouTube channel and remain beyond the pale of regulation. Moreover, self-regulation was not working effectively. It is certainly encouraging that the court did not want to endorse any mechanism that would gag creators and only sought to address a vacuum. The U