Supreme Court Imposes Rs 1 Lakh Fine On Google, Facebook, WhatsApp Over Handling Of Sexually Abusive Content

In a bid to curb sexually abusive social media content, the Supreme Court of India has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on social media giants Yahoo, Facebook Ireland, Facebook India, Google India, Google Inc, Microsoft and WhatsApp.

The Orders

Reportedly, the tech giants earlier ignored the court orders of taking necessary measures to block child porn and rape videos circulating online.

As reported by Deccan Chronicle, the bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, said: “None of these entities has filed anything to show us the progress nor any of these entities is ready with any response under our April 16 order. The registry will accept affidavits filed by these entities along with the cost of Rs 1 lakh each which will be kept in a fixed deposit for a short-term period immediately upon receipt.”

The Court has extended the deadline to June 15 for submitting their response.

According to The Financial Express, NGO Prajwala, an anti-trafficking organization wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India in 2015, complaining about the sexually abusive content circulated on social media platforms. Taking the cognisance of the issue, the court headed by then Chief Justice HL Dattu ordered the CBI to launch a probe to book the culprits.

Government’s Response

According to Hindustan Times, the Central Government in its response submitted a report stating the launch of a cybercrime reporting portal is currently in its beta version. On this portal, one can file complaints about abusive content on social media which will be answered by cyber police units all over the country.

However, the court observed that much work remains to be done and the portal is not yet ready for launch. Taking note of the delay already caused in this project the court has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to present a functional online portal by June 30.