SC backs Delhi Assembly's right to summon Facebook

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday upheld the authority of Delhi Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee to summon Facebook India’s senior official Ajit Mohan in connection with the February 2020 communal riots saying that the role of Facebook must be investigated in this context.

The three-judge bench noted that it is difficult to accept the simplistic approach adopted by Facebook – that it is merely a platform posting third party information and has no role in generating, controlling, or modulating that information.

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Facebook is the most popular social media in India with 270 million registered users. Social media like Facebook have become ‘power centres’ with the ability to influence vast section of public opinions, the court said. Facebook has removed 22.5 million pieces of hate speech content in the second quarter of 2020.

The court deemed that the social platform cannot claim any exception privilege to abstain from appearing before the Peace and Harmony Committee constituted by Delhi Assembly. The court claims that it merely wants to depose Ajit Mohan as a witness.

 The court accused the social media giant which by its own admission only appears before committees that serve their commercial and operational interest. But if their business interests are not served, they reserve the right to stay away, said a judge. This stand is completely unacceptable to us, he added.

The court also rejected Facebook’s argument that the committee had no jurisdiction over law and order in Delhi, and that it was encroaching into the Centre’s turf. The court said that the communal riots took the lives of 53 people and that the concept of peace and harmony goes beyond law and order. The complexity of communal tensions and their wide-ranging ramifications is a matter affecting citizens of Delhi. It cannot be said that the Government of Delhi cannot look into causal factors to formulate appropriate remedial measures.

The court noted that the Facebook representative appearing before the committee may not answer any query regarding the law, order and police.

The court rejected Facebook’s argument that the committee should confine itself to make laws rather than enquire into the circumstances of the riots. It also declined the plea that the committee had no power to summon outsiders or non-members of the Assembly like Facebook.

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