The chief justice questioned how there were repeated instances of violations if self-regulation was indeed effective.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the efficacy of self-regulatory mechanisms, the Supreme Court on Thursday emphasised the need for a neutral, independent and autonomous body to regulate obscene, offensive or illegal content on online platforms, Live Law reported.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions filed by podcaster Ranveer Allahabadia and others challenging the first information reports against them for making sexually explicit remarks during an episode of the YouTube show India’s Got Latent in February.
The bench had expanded the scope of the matter to consider guidelines against obscenity on online platforms.
Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the Union government has proposed to introduce new guidelines, Live Law reported. The government is consulting the stakeholders, they submitted.
Mehta was quoted as saying that the matter was not only about obscenity but perversity in user-generated content that is posted on persons on platforms such as their own YouTube channels.
