Supreme Court declines petition demanding removal of anti-national content from social platforms
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court refused a public-interest litigation that sought court orders to identify and block anti-national slogans and speeches on major social media services.
In New Delhi, the Supreme Court turned down a public-interest petition that aimed to force the government and several social-media companies to locate, remove and block posts containing anti-national slogans and speeches. The petition, submitted by Ahmedabad resident Hitendra Kumar Parsottambhai Gadhiya and argued by Barun Sinha, alleged that such content fuels mob violence and threatens communal harmony, citing incidents across the capital and other state capitals.
The three-judge panel—Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana—declined to entertain the writ and also refused to merge it with a related pending case on social-media regulation. The court advised the petitioner to explore alternative legal avenues. The suit had named the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and platforms including X Corp, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp as respondents.
Why it matters
The decision limits immediate judicial intervention in policing online content that critics claim threatens national unity.
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