Fake news in social media - election campaigns and Indian legal framework

Abstract

The Digital Civility 2020, the global survey reports that politics is one of the topmost topics that drive most incivility in online and fake news is the second most encountered risk in online. It is seven percent higher than the global average. The inexpensive smart phones, cheap availability of mobile data and online platform operators online and social media services as well the availability of government services and schemes are expanding urban as well rural the mobile phone and internet user base. The user-friendly technology facilitates to like, create, share any content, image, video within the user’s network and as well in the open web. The rise of digital media eco system with internet search engines, social media networks and web-based news outlets grapple for our collective attention and dramatically revolutionized the way an average human consume the information. The intermediaries or online platform operators have grown in the environment that they own no responsibility or liability for the content posted by its users. It gave rise for the fake news. Fake news genre includes misinformation or disinformation or mal-information. Hundreds and thousands of fake news genres are generated and disseminated in the social media about politics. There were series of fake news genre thronged in the social media during the lok sabha election 2019. Though propagation of ideas, freedom of circulation and liberty of publication is validated time and again as the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression but it is reliant on reasonable restrictions, therefore, the Election Commission was reliant on the erstwhile provisions of section 66A of Information Technology Act, 2000 to encounter the fake news but the supreme court found that the provisions of the section is capable of limiting all forms of internet communications and limiting the right to freedom of speech and expression and hence struck down the said section.