-:Project Report on:INTERNET AND POLITICS: REGULATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN

INDIA

Submitted to

Mrs. Debmita Mondal

(Faculty Member of Cyber Law)

Submitted by

Nirvikalp Shukla
B. A. LL. B. (Hons.) Student
Semester VII, Section C, Roll No. 105

Hidayatullah National Law University

Uparwara Post, Abhanpur, New Raipur 493661 (C.G.)
-

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I feel highly elated to get to work on the topic Internet and Politics: Regulation of Social Media
in India. The practical realization of this project has obligated the assistance of many persons. I
express my deepest regard and gratitude for Mrs Debmita Mandal, faculty of Cyber Law. Her
consistent supervision, constant inspiration and invaluable guidance have been an immense help in
understanding and carrying out the nuances of this project report.

I would also like extend my hand of gratitude towards the friends and family, without whose
support and encouragement this project would not have been a reality.
I take this opportunity to thank the university, and the Honorable Vice Chancellor for providing
extensive database resources in the library and through Internet.
For any sort of errors that might have crept in, it is deeply regretted. I shall be grateful if further
comments and suggestions are put forth regarding improvisation of the provisions.

~Nirvikalp Shukla
~Semester- 7th , Year- 4th
~Section- C, Roll No.- 105

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration..4
Certificate4
Introduction and Research Methodology
Synopsis.....5
Research Methodology
Aims and objectives..6
Scope and limitations....6
Research Questions...6
Introduction.7
Political Impact8
Online Dissent11
Social Media Restrictions.13
Conclusion...18
Bibliography.20

DECLARATION
I Nirvikalp Shukla declare the work entitled Internet and Politics: Regulation of Social
Media in India being submitted to Hidayatullah National Law University for the project in the
subject of Cyber Law is original and where the text is taken from the authenticated books,
articles or web articles, appropriate reference is given. It is true in my best of knowledge.
Date : 19th September 2016

Nirvikalp Shukla
Roll No 105
VII Semester

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project entitled Internet and Politics: Regulation of Social Media in
India submitted by Mr. Nirvikalp Shukla for the project work in the subject of Cyber Law
embodies independent and original research work carried out by him under my supervision and
guidance.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, it is his original work submitted to fulfill the
project assignment for the seventh semester of B.A.LL.B. Programme during the academic year
2016-17
Date: 19th September 2016

Mrs. Debmita Mandal

Asst. Professor in Law
H.N.L.U, Raipur

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION AND REASERCH METHEDOLOGY
Synopsis:
Since the mid-1990s a new force has emerged to reshape modern societythe Internet. One
aspect of society that the Internet has changed significantly is politics. In politics, the Internet has
produced three types of change. The first is the way that politicians reach the voting public.
Previously, politicians could only reach the public using the established media (television, radio,
or newspapers and magazines) or by meeting people on the street. This is no longer the case. The
second change produced by the Internet relates to the participation of the average citizen in
political processes. People used to be limited to voting, sit-ins, strikes, public gatherings, letter
writing, and similar types of activities, but since the advent of the Internet, many new activities
have developed. The third change caused by the Internet is the creation of a whole new group of
participants in the political process. Before the Internet was available, the only private groups
that were politically active were either very large, very specialized, or both; the Internet has
enabled small, local groups to also participate in politics. With the passage of time, Internet
started having an impact on the politics and politics too, started to have an impact on internet by
the mechanism of regulations.
The aim of this research work is to establish the undeniable changes the advent of Internet and
social networking has brought about in the field of Politics. As the internet assumes a massive
role in political activism, campaigns and governance, it becomes evident that the internet is
changing the way politics works. The tangible effects of social media are now coming to
prominence as we see immediate consequences of various online campaigns, exposs and
information leaks shift from the virtual world to the real. Natural human tendency to form
clusters with likeminded individuals is leading to online political polarization of potential voters.
Social Media is a volatile force that can both forge and demolish political careers and
institutions. This is examined through various cases such as the Snowden-NSA scandal, the
Narendra Modi internet campaign, the Obama Re-election campaign, the Assange-Wikileaks
scandal and the Jasmine Revolution in China.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Aims and objectives:
The aim of this project is to look at the relationship between the internet and politics with special
reference to worlds largest democracy- India.

To analyze the relationship between internet and politics.

To understand how politics has an impact on the internet regulations and social media.

Scope and limitations:

The project limits itself to studying the relationship between the internet and politics and the
regulation of social media in India.
The researchers study was even limited by his understanding as there could be some basic
observations which he might have failed to put forward in the project due to limited
understanding of the subject.
Research questions
1

What is the relationship between internet and politics

How does politics influence the regulation of social media in India

Introduction
Social media ostensibly comes across as a wasteful activity that yields nothing of value. Indeed
social networks like Facebook and Twitter are dismissed by many as merely a means of short
term gratification; a replacement for text messaging. To a discerning eye it is apparent that this is
far from the truth. Social networking did start out as a way for people to communicate and keep
in touch with each other via the internet in a much more interactive manner than email could
offer, but has since evolved into a gargantuan presence that influences our online behaviour
across various public forums on the internet. Social Media is no longer just a tool for college
students to keep track of each others activities. With internet penetration reaching nearly 36%
across the world1, the internet is now used by one out of every three persons. Social Media
revolves around user generated content in interactive platforms allowing the kind of freedom that
traditional forms of real and virtual media lack.
Social media platforms can be divided on the basis of their content; Blogs (BlogSpot), microblogs (Twitter), content communities (YouTube), collaborative information (Wikipedia) etc.
Most social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter rely on their highly interactive nature to
attract a large number of internet users who in turn attract advertisers, thus driving up advertising
revenues for the sites. And given the large number of users, many users advertise their own
businesses to a customized consumer base, for direct and immediate response. Thus, social
media platforms have become hubs of economic activity as well, while still being a place for
people to interact with each other. This small fact has huge implications. Social networking
cannot be dismissed as a mere technological fad, or a phase that the internet is going through.
Interpersonal communication on the internet is no longer constrained to greetings. The internet
allows unrestrained freedom to anybody who wants to express themselves, and is a hub for
thoughts and ideas to flow freely. Anybody on the internet can say anything they wish to, and
believe to be true. And if people can be influenced to buy products, they can be influenced by
ideologies too and beliefs too, if convincingly put across.
1 World Bank. (n.d.). Internet users (per 100 people). Retrieved from:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2/countries/1W?display=default [Accessed: 17 Sept 2016].

Political Impact
Politics is an intense and cut-throat race for the power to influence and make decisions, with
leaders of various groups of people competing for positions in the decision making authorities of
their respective countries. Vote bank based politics revolves around expanding the vote bank and
bringing under influence, as much of the voter base as possible. Politicians have always relied on
direct and personal communication with the voters to convince them to exercise their right to
vote and to use it in their favour. Social media is built upon the premise of direct and personal
communication. Traditionally, politicians rely on their oratorical skills and door-to-door
campaigning, to keep in touch with the general public and are now switching to an easier and
more convenient means: Social media. Political campaigns across the worlds now rely on social
media platforms to advertise themselves and attack their opponents in equal measure.
Advertising on these platforms has a primary advantage that most other forms of advertising
cannot offer; the power to tailor the audience for any particular ad, based on any number of
criteria, including age, gender, region etc.
In the recent past, the growing impact of social media on politics across the world has garnered
increasing attention from various researchers and scholars. In a massive study that had a sample
of 61 million people undertaken in 2012, using the Barack Obama re-election campaign, the
researchers concluded that online political mobilisation works.2 The study was conducted on
three groups of people on Facebook; one group was shown constant messages asking them to
vote, and a list of friends who had already voted, one group was shown messages suggesting
them to vote, without the list of friends who had voted while the third group was shown no
political message at all. Then, the electoral data was studied using publicly available records and
2 Robert M. Bond, Christopher J. Fariss, Jason J. Jones, Adam D. I. Kramer, Cameron Marlow,
Jaime E. Settle & James H. Fowler (2012). A 61-million-person experiment in social influence
and political mobilization. Nature. 489, 295298. doi:10.1038/nature11421

it was found that the data suggested that the tactics employed directly increased voter turnout by
as much as 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion another 2,80,000 voters,
leading to a total of 3,40,000 voters who had voted due to the influence of a single social
networking site. This is a significant finding, because it shows how effective a viral campaign on
Facebook can be, on influencing and inducing people to participate in a something. This also
shows how influential the behaviour of online peers can be. The group that was shown the list of
friends who had voted produced a larger number of people who voted.
However, Facebook and its extensive privacy settings may not be the best place to study the
impact of political messages. The Micro-blogging website Twitter, has emerged as the best place
to study online political reverberations because of its unique hash-tag system which makes
identifying clusters of data with the same meaning, tone or message easier. Online communities
with different political orientations begin forming and exchange heated discourse and debates
about their respective political ideologies. The online world emulates the real world in all ways
possible and the same holds true for spheres of political interest. In fact, the clashes between
political fanatics become much more vicious online where it is not necessary to reveal ones
identity to express or attack a statement. In the conclusion of an extensive study on the behaviour
of Twitter users with strong political ideologies and clear idea of party orientation 3, it is stated
that politically motivated individuals provoke interaction by injecting partisan content into
information streams whose primary audience consists of ideologically opposed users. In other
words, people using social media often resort to goading other members online into a clash of
beliefs. Hence, it is but natural that political entities take advantage of this phenomenon and use
it for their advantage.
Election campaigns in most countries with internet access rely on internet activism, especially on
social media to help gain the support of a larger vote bank. In India, Narendra Modi, the Prime
Ministerial candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party has been exceptionally clever at handling
his public image through the medium of social media. Online presence of a political candidate is
all the more important in the Indian context because of the mud-slinging that is prevalent in
Indian politics. Clearing ones name goes a long way in influencing skeptical voters, as does
3 M. D. Conover, J. Ratkiewicz, M. Francisco, B. Goncalves, A. Flammini & F. Menczer (2011). Political Polarization
on Twitter. Retrieved from http://truthy.indiana.edu/site_media/pdfs/conover_icwsm2011_polarization.pdf

tarnishing the image and reputation of another. It has been observed that Modi follows the
Obama model of online presence, with a personal website and blog along with Twitter accounts
in 9 languages. However, Modi did not stop with opening a few social networking accounts.
Narendra Modi has employed some of Indias richest IT geniuses, who made amassed wealth
during the dotcom rush in the 90s. BJPs social media campaigning amounts a large chunk of
the party expenditure on advertising, and is backed by the best in the advertising industry, thus
making it an effective and worthwhile method of making people aware of the political scenario
in the country.
Modi has been at the receiving end of backlash for his alleged involvement in the inducement of
riots in Gujarat in 2002, which persists as a dark blot on his public image. This is an analytical
piece and will not focus on personal ideologies, but it is imperative to mention that Narendra
Modi has cleverly used his extensive marketing campaigns to focus only on his models of
development and personal ideologies and agendas, while moving attention away from past
allegations of serious crimes and targeting the opposition party for their short comings.
Narendra Modi is not the only politician to join the social media bandwagon. In fact, most
prominent political parties now have dedicated IT Cells to handle their public image online.
The online vote bank in India is large, with the number of total Facebook users in India set to
surpass that of America in 2014-15

and having an influential online position may very well

prove to be a deciding factor in the 2014 general elections in India. The Election Commission in
India seems to be floundering as it struggles to keep up with the advent of social media and
newer forms of campaigning. For instance, election campaigning has to stop 48 hours before
elections. Is the Election Commission expected to monitor every popular social media outlet for
48 hours, searching for tweets or Facebook posts that may amount to campaigning? With the
amount of money being spent on online advertising and campaigning by political parties, the
Election Commission in India has announced that it will be closely monitoring online
expenditure by candidates to see if the election code of conduct is followed.5

4 Harjani, A. (2012, May 16). India Set to Overtake US as Facebooks Largest Market. Retrieved
from http://www.cnbc.com/id/47441565

What differentiates social media from more traditional forms of media is the freedom it is
accorded. The Italian case clearly highlights this. Italy is a country with strong democratic roots.
However, most forms of traditional Italian media are state controlled. Widespread internet usage
spread through Italy after 2000 and Italy has held three elections since then. In the 2013
elections, the two-party coalition that had been incumbent since 1994 was overthrown by a new
comer party, the 5 Star Movement (M5S). The victory of the M5S party in the election has been
directly correlated to increased broadband availability and the ability to express discontent and
form like-minded groups online.6 The high speed communication the internet facilitates and
social media takes advantage of, is a very important factor in deciding the elections in any
democratic country. People express their views and are instantly met with assent or dissent and
this helps shape political views across the concerned country and even overseas, as the Internet is
bound by national territories.

Online Dissent
While the advent of social media has helped revolutionize how Governments are formed, it has
helped bring down Governments as well. All the cases we have seen so far have been
democracies. This is because of the direct causal relationship that can be observed in a situation
where democratic elections are influenced by enthusiastic and voluble netizens (citizens of the
online world) and virtual political campaigns. In countries without democracies, or flawed
democracies, there always exists a growing discontent against the restrictions on freedom and
personal rights. This dissent is expressed on social media forums and slowly gathers steam until
it can snowball into a movement that affects millions of people in the real world. Such a
movement was observed in the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt, which helped overthrow a
regime.

5 Srivastava, Rajiv. (2013, October 10). Politicians' use of social media on Election
Commission's scanner. Times of India. Retrieved from www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
6 Campante, F, Durante, R, and Sobbrio F (2013), Politics 2.0.: The Multifaceted Effect of
Broadband Internet on Political Participation, NBER Working Paper 19029.

Five people anonymously administered a Facebook page, communicating over Googles e-mail
system (which doesnt allow outsiders to trace a mail back to the senders IP address) effectively
avoiding police detection. A Facebook Event page was created, calling for a protest movement
on January 25th, which became the first day of the revolution. It showcased the astounding
impact of a networking website, where increased mobilization was possible, where events and
locations could be set up as decoys-only to be changed later at a moments notice- where there
were no boundaries limiting who could access the information being given out. A single
Facebook page changed the entire concept of a revolutionary as relevant in the modern society.
With the backdrop of unemployment, corruption and human rights abuse, the website acted as a
critical component in the facilitation of the movement in Egypt. It was found that over 52% of
the participants in the Tahrir Square movement in Egypt which saw approximately 2 million
people protesting to overthrow the regime of President Hosni Mubarak were there directly
because of what they had heard on Facebook7. It was observed that even if other factors were
controlled, social media greatly increased the likelihood of a protestor attending the first day of
the protests.
An important factor here is that the online political sphere in Egypt did not face much
censorship or restraint for most of its early phase of development, with only a few arrests or
shutting down of blogs, after the protests started. Simmering anger and discontent was not
limited to the online sphere but it helped amplify the efforts and put forth strong points against
the regime. The introduction of Facebook in Arabic in 2009 helped step up the efforts to a higher
level. The Tahrir Square protests were the result of a slow buildup of tension in both the real
world and online. Without the involvement of social media, it is possible that the turnout at the
protests may not have been large enough to draw global attention, like it did.
Protests and rallies are not the only ways in which social media has affected politics in the real
world. Scandals, scams and other sensitive information often leak on the internet, tarnishing
reputations and toppling political careers. The case of Anthony Weiner is a classic example of
how social media can make or break a political career. Anthony Weiner is an American
politician, whose political career was destroyed by a sexting (sexual messaging) scandal after
7 Tufekci, Z. and Wilson, C. (2012), Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations
From Tahrir Square. Journal of Communication, 62: 363379. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01629.x

he admitted to having sent sexually explicit images to over 9 women via popular social
networking sites. Weiner was a member of the New York City Council for 7 years, a
congressional aide for 6 years and in running for Mayor of New York in 2005, before resigning
from Congress in 2011 after it was found that he had been sending sexually explicit images to
various women on Twitter. Weiner ran for Mayor again in 2013 but got caught in yet another sex
scandal, and the uproar caused on the internet led to an extreme fall in support, with him getting
merely 5% of the total votes in the mayoral primary.
This goes on to show that in the virtual world, information is power. Mudslinging and name
calling is common, but when heavy impact is desired, it is such exposes and information leaks
that leave an impression, by causing an uproar. The WikiLeaks incident is common knowledge
and an apt example of how powerful information can be in the online world. Spearheaded by
Julian Assange, the movement aimed at leaking confidential and highly controversial
Government documents across the world led to an outcry from Government authorities who were
helpless, but gained sympathy from the citizens. Just as the scandal seemed to fade away from
public memory, a former CIA employee, Edward Snowden released over 2,00,000 confidential
documents that revealed that the NSA was spying on innocent citizens in an attempt to control
terrorism. Interestingly, Snowden has been termed a hero by citizens and a traitor by the
Government. Internet users value their privacy and are naturally not comfortable with revealing
personal data which can be used to glean personal information. 8 But privacy on the internet has
become somewhat of a rare commodity, with authorities across the world increasingly resorting
to restricting online freedom for various causes.

Social Media Restrictions

Censorship and propaganda serve as remarkable equipment to provide governments with ability
to control the mindsets of the population on an incomprehensibly large scale. The former
8 Bilogrevic, Igor; Jadliwala, Murtuza; Lam, Istvan; Aad, Imad, Ginzboorg, Philip; Niemi,
Valtteri; Bindschaedler, Laurent; Hubaux, Jean-Pierre. Big Brother Knows Your Friends: On
Privacy of Social Communities in Pervasive Networks. Pervasive Computing Lecture Notes in
Computer Science, 2012, Vol. 7319, 370-387. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-31205-2_23

involves keeping under lock and key the materials that have the potential to incite rebellions
among the people, while the latter makes use of available means of broadcasting information, to
stimulate popular opinions that adhere to the ideas found desirable by the governments in power.
The Middle Eastern region has been subjected to some of the most oppressive regimes, which
have taken innumerable measures to clamp down on free speech over the internet. Turkmenistan,
Syria, etc being Islamic countries, the question has been raised whether religious conservatism is
a cause of the increasing degree of internet censorship. The 2013 World Freedom Press Index,
published by Reporters Without borders9, ranked Iran as 174th out of 179 countries, while Syria
was ranked 176 and Turkmenistan at 177. The indicator can be broken down by region,
producing scores from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the countrys total respect for media and
press freedom. While Europe has a score of 17.5, the Middle East and North African region
comes last, producing a score of 48.5, despite the revolutions of the Arab Springs.
While broadly examining the results, it may appear at face value that religious conservatism is
the deciding factor for internet censorship. And while it may well have some bearing, it cannot
be stated as the conclusive factor. Occupying the last position as 179 th is Eritrea, which has a
predominantly Islamic population, but also a considerable Christian populace. North Korea, at
178th position, has a mainly irreligious demographic, with a mix of religions including Buddhism
and Christianity. Similarly, China has no nominal major religion, while Cuba has a Christian
majority population. This stands as an indication that the connection between the presence of a
particular religion and media censorship is, at best, a tenuous one.
What then, is the cause of restriction of online freedom? Most of the countries in the Middle
Eastern region have had decades of authoritarian and military rule, with the institution of
democracy being introduced for the first time in decades, in countries like Tunisia and Libya.
Political ideologies and institutions thus share a clear relationship with censorship of the media
in a country.
China operates the worlds most sophisticated system of censorship (colloquially known as The
Great Firewall), with certain potentially sensitive search terms being blocked on the internet.
9 Reporters Without Borders, World Press Freedom Index - 2013, 2013, available at:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5108f621e.html [accessed 29 November 2013]

One prominent example is that of Chen Guangcheng, a human rights activist who escaped house
arrest in eastern China, to the US embassy in Beijing. Several keywords related to his case have
been listed as banned terms on the website Sina Weibo (similar to the micro-blogging site
Twitter). This acts as an effective way of keeping information from being transferred through
social media, leaving the vast majority of the population unaware of the development of the
situation. A similar situation arose in the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests (named the
Jasmine Revolution) where searches related to the word jasmine were blocked on Sina Weibo.
Though the movement was seen as a significant part of the impact of the Arab Springs, tight
control over the internet and media made mobilization and call for mass protests much more
difficult during the Jasmine Revolution.
When the Government controls the medium of free speech, Social media is rendered useless as
an effective tool of communication, and is reduced to a mere means of entertainment. Chinese
cyber-dissidents include Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo, dissident Liu Xianbin (sentenced
to a 10-year term for inciting subversion of the government) and lawyer Ni Yulan, among others.
Governmental interference of the internet is not limited to the Middle East and China alone. In a
state where citizens are deprived of information pertaining to the rest of the world, propaganda
dictates content being published and accessed over the internet. North Korea uses Red Star- its
own custom-built operating system, and Kwangmyong, the countrys state-run internet service
provider. The system has been designed such that it is easy for the state to control and modify it
as necessary. The internet is accessible only by the elites- academicians, scientists and
politicians- while the general population has no access to the web. From 2007 to 2013 North
Korea has been listed second last of the 177 countries (Eritrea occupying the last place) in the
World Freedom Press Index (2013).
Unsurprisingly, India ranks a measly 140th in the same Index, with increasing violence against
journalists being cited as one of the main reasons for this ranking. In the recent past, media
restrictions in India have been on a steep incline. Indian Minister for Communications and
Information Technology, Mr.Kapil Sibal claimed to support complete online freedom, while

subtly slipping in hints about arbitrary censorship measures for the sake of communal
harmony10. Laws in India regarding cybercrimes are still in a stage of infancy and are vague at
their best. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act (2000), states Any person who sends,
by means of a computer resource or a communication device, any information that is
grossly offensive or has menacing character. shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to three years and with fine. 11 The term grossly offensive is open to
interpretation by authorities. This poses a serious threat to the freedom of expression online, as
seen in an incident in Mumbai where two young women were arrested for expressing their views
about a deceased politician on Facebook, and booked under Section 66A of the Information
Technology Act.
Ironically, misuse of social media has not been restricted to citizens. Politicians have slowly
begun to comprehend the immense power of a strong social media presence and have started to
employ dubious methods to impress the online world and make them heard. In a recent
undercover operation conducted by a little known News Corporation, it was found that various
IT companies offered to help boost the public image of anyone willing to discreetly pay cash
while maligning opponents at the same time.12 Services offered included:
1. Generation of fake followers on various social networking sites, such as Facebook,
Twitter and Blogspot;
2. Deletion of negative comments/posts;
3. Negative publicity against opponents of the client (politicians, referred to as Netaji);
4. Creation of fake profiles with Muslim names to show support of the Muslim community

10 Sathe, G., & Agrawal, S. (2013, March 21).Internet governance is an oxymoron, says Kapil
Sibal. [online] Retrieved from:
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Z7mTX6YrUDdH6lEs15im2L/Kapil-Sibal-allays-fears-onInternet-censorship.html [Accessed: 30 Nov 2013].
11 Information Technology Act (2000). Amended (2008).
12 Cobrapost.(2013, November 28). Cobrapost represents Operation Blue Virus: Press Release.
Cobrapost. Retrieved from http://www.cobrapost.com/index.php/news-detail?nid=4024&cid=23

This leads to an important question: Should social media be accorded complete and unbridled
freedom, without any form of policing or control? Ours is a country that has strong partisan
factors deeply entrenched in religious beliefs and notions. Social media platforms become an
outlet for pent up frustration in those who may not exhibit proper restraint of thought and
provoke irate responses. In the case of the recent Muzaffarnagar communal clashes in Uttar
Pradesh, a lawyer, Shehzad Poonawalla urged the National Human Rights Commission to direct
the department of telecommunications to screen posts on social media that were inciting
violence. Poonawalla stated that his objective behind filing a petition was to highlight how social
media was being misused by bigoted persons with separatist intentions. 13 The Muzaffarnagar
clashes were mainly attributed to viral videos on YouTube, even though the authenticity of that
claim is debatable.
A large section of our population is still illiterate and rumours can run rife and very often,
violence is not the only result. For instance, polio campaigns failed in Muslim communities in
2006 because of a rumour that the polio vaccine resulted in sterilization of the baby. With the
2014 elections just around the corner, are we to resign ourselves to the possibility that every
breach of law might be attributed to a social media post?
Social media is a double edged sword. The power that comes with the freedom of expression and
unmonitored activity is easily misused. The social networking sites that have been used to start
peaceful protests can be used to ignite communal violence and riots as well. In a country like
India, where religious sentiments are easily affected and religious fanatics dont hesitate to play
with these emotions, it is very important to make sure that careless activities on the online dont
lead to unintended consequences like loss of life and property.

13 Tehelka. Muzaffarnagar Riots: Complaint Lodged Against Inflammatory Content On Social Media.(2013,
September 9). Tehelka. Retrieved from http://www.tehelka.com/muzaffarnagar-riots-complaint-lodged-againstinflammatory-content-on-social-media/ (Visited on 29 November 2013).

Conclusion
The ability to move considerable amounts of information across vast distances within a
negligible period of time has formed, over the course of the previous decades, the bedrock of our
contemporary society. Lauded as the greatest communication innovation this century has seen,
abridgments to the open freelance atmosphere of the Internet have been frequently attempted by
various governments, with different objectives as regards the requirement of the degree and
extent of censorship of the virtual world. The roots of the internet lie in the function of its
predecessor, which had been designed with the intent to ensure communication in the event of a
nuclear attack, by compensating for ruined servers and telephone lines. The very crux of the
Internet lies in its ability to overcome such barriers. Irrespective of the imposition of heavy
censorship, it is inevitable that communication will not be halted permanently.
It is hard not to resort to rhetoric while elucidating the massive role that social media plays in our
daily life. The internet is a tool which facilitates, amongst many other things, interpersonal
communication and exchange of ideas, views and theories. It is this feature that makes the
internet what it is. To completely curtail freedom of expression in social media is to end social

media as we know it. However, a virtual world without any form of regulatory authority
whatsoever would be no different from the real world without any restrictions imposed on
people, for the safety of the general public. Regulation is as necessary on the internet as it is on
any other commercial venue. E-commerce websites all require some minimal regulation in order
to function effectively. Original works published on the internet have no reason to be exempt
from the principles of intellectual property law and copyright. The sharing of explicit images,
child pornography and other illegal content has to be monitored on the internet, as it would be in
real life.
These factors demand some minimal regulatory body to intervene. Varying opinions exist
regarding the importance of censorship of content on the internet. While the principle of freedom
of expression has to be kept in mind, it is also critical that one consider the necessity of
monitoring hate speech and bigoted opinions, the expression of which has become considerably
easier with the widespread use of the worldwide web. There is a vital distinction between
censorship and monitoring of offensive or obscene content. Where one seeks to protect the
sentiments of a particular group being targeted, the other involves prohibiting content which may
show a political group in an unfavorable light, or act in any way as an impetus to starting a rebel
movement. It is this censorship that violates the basic freedom of the people, by presenting to
them a distorted view of the truth.
The effect of communication via the internet may have proved to be a boon in many cases, but its
detrimental effects under those circumstances cannot be overlooked. As a consequence of the
Egyptian revolutions, totalitarian regimes in the region acted swiftly to block the free flow of
information through the web, using several means, such as slowing down the internet speed,
blocking certain topics or websites which were deemed to be controversial, as well as carrying
out surveillance and monitoring internet usage. There were also instances of deaths of activists,
such as Zakariya Rashid Hassan, who died in custody in Bahrain, a week after being arrested for
disseminating false news, and calling for the overthrow of the government on online forums.
Politically motivated surveillance, accompanied by draconian punishments meted out to bloggers
and activists pose considerable danger to freedom of an individual on the internet.
The importance of government intervention, however, is not to be overlooked or underestimated.
Without a regulatory authority, the bigoted and the ignorant would find an ideal platform to

propound their views, alienating separate communities on a superficial basis. There is a

distinction drawn here between activities that are immoral, and ones that are illegal. While
conceptions of immorality are open to subjective interpretations and definitions tend to differ,
illegality of a subject remains relatively constant with time. Given the undeniable advent of the
internet throughout the world, it is inevitable that governments would attempt to impose their
own views to the rest of the society through this platform. This may go beyond a mere
expression of opinion, and lead to imposition of several regulations, which would render the
internet, as a tool of mass communication and a place of freedom of speech, very early
nonexistent. It becomes critical to rethink various approaches to censorship, and to allow the web
to expand and grow of its accord. After all, the Internet is a virtual world that emulates the real
world in more ways than one.

References:

www.academia.com

www.scribd.com

www.lawyersclubindia.com

www.legalindia.com

www.comegetpointsaboutlaw.com

www.legalfarm.com

www.cobrapost.com

www.tehelka.com

www.livemint.com