'Classify social media as news media to curb fake news': Supreme Court judge

To curb the dissemination of fake news and bots in the digital age, there is a need to classify social media platforms as news media and subject them to the same journalistic standards, said Supreme Court Judge S Ravindra Bhat while delivering a lecture on Saturday. Justice Bhat also questioned the neutrality maintained by such platforms in claiming no responsibility for the content shared by users on them.

Justice Bhat said systems that mediate between users, social media platforms can never be neutral. He also said that algorithms shape how people communicate and what information is presented to what participants in what manner and at what time. 

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Supreme Court Judge: 'Classify social media as news media'

While expanding his thoughts on the broad spectrum of the digital platform and the need for digital constitutional governance, Justice Bhat said that as more digital information was getting transacted, the dependence on social media platforms for news has increased. He said that people source news from social media, which is not bad. But, news disseminated on such platforms is not factual because of which fake news and planting bots have triggered riots that result in public mischief. 

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Stating that in the US, 50 per cent of the population sources news from social media, the SC judge said that in India too, social media is getting significantly relevant. The SC judge also remarked that these "data-fuelled giants" have business models that rely on selling their user's personal information to advertisers. A move to identify the advertisers behind social media has been initiated recently by Australia, the judge added. 

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Extending his attention on another area of concern in the digital sector with growing decentralisation of government services to private players. Underlining the need to classify social media as news media, Justice Bhat said that digital platforms are fully private space which needs to be questioned in the present context where they play a significant role in governing everyday life and take over the provision of services and sectors that have been serviced by the government.

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