Issues regarding social media giants
Cyberbullying
According to an October 2018 report in Forbes magazine, It was found that nearly one in five parents worldwide say their child has experienced cyberbullying at least once. The problem is particularly bad in India which had the highest rate of parents confirming instances of cyberbullying. A total of 37% of parents across India said their child was bullied online, with 14% of that total saying the bullying occurred on a regular basis.
Monetising access to Internet
In 2015, Facebook formed a consortium of companies named internet.org that aimed to monetize Internet access, offering only a limited number of websites for free. This scheme was introduced in India too, and was called ‘free basics’. In April 2015, some Indian startups start pulling out of Internet.org to protect net neutrality. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India accused Facebook of blocking access to TRAI’s designated email for feedback on Free Basics.On February 8, 2016, TRAI banned the Free Basics service in India,
Stealing user data
From the US elections to the recent Indian elections, it was seen that attempts were made to use private data of users on social networks to try to influence their political opinion, and thus undermine democracy. Cambridge Analytica designed special quiz in Facebook to extract user data, and then used it to influence public opinion. As a result, Facebook faced heavy criticism, and announced self-regulation measures last year.
-Even so, Facebook revealed this week that roughly 100 app developers may have improperly accessed group members’ data, even after it locked down its Groups system last year. The social media giant said that it knows that at least 11 partners accessed the data in past 60 days.
State of privacy in India
The Indian constitution guarantees a fundamental right to privacy. This was upheld in a decision of a nine judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court in August 2017. This case was brought to the Supreme Court after the claim in the 2015 by Mukul Rohatgi, the then Attorney General stated that there is no constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy. This claim was denied by the nine-judge bench of the court, which found that the constitution does guarantee a right to privacy. However, Right to Privacy can be restricted in certain conditions.
The right to privacy can be restricted by procedure established by law and this procedure would have to be just, fair and reasonable.
Reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the right to privacy in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence;
The right to privacy can be restricted if there is an important countervailing interest which is superior to it
The right to privacy can be restricted if there is a compelling state interest to be served
The protection available under the right to privacy may not be available to a person who voluntarily introduces him- or herself into controversy.
Opposition groups
Save the Internet is a prominant organisation working to ensure net neutrality. It was founded in 2006, and shot to fame mainly due to its opposition to Internet.org efforts by Facebook
Anonymous is a hacktivist group founded in 2004, and believes that the Internet must remain free from censorship. They often use measures such as DDoS attacks to deter attempts at regulating the Internet. Majority of their actions target governments, organizations, and corporations that they accuse of censorship. Anonymous also has some presence in India.
