Twitter & Facebook Should Be Held Responsible For Fake News

Twitter & Facebook should also be held responsible for wrong information- Justice Chandrachud.

Concerned over the rising trend of fake news, SC judge Justice DY Chandrachud on Saturday said internet media platforms like Twitter and Facebook should be held responsible for false content.

Teaching the people to be cautious and accept different views, he said that as citizens we should ensure that the press is free from any influence.

Institutions need to be strengthened.

Justice Chandrachud was delivering a lecture on the topic Speaking Truth to Power: Citizens and the Law at the 6th MC Chagla Memorial Online Lecture.

To combat the spread of fake news, we need to strengthen our public institutions, he said.

Twitter & Facebook should also be held responsible: It is difficult for people to find the truth.

Justice Chandrachud said that as citizens we should try to ensure that we have a free press from any kind of political and economic influence.

We need a press that gives us information in an unbiased manner. He said that we are in a phase where it is difficult to get correct information.

It has become extremely difficult for people to find the truth. Even after finding the truth, they do not care for the truth.

Increased tendency to ignore the truth.

Justice Chandrachud said that there is a race going on between ‘Our truth’ vs ‘Your truth’.

There has also been an increased tendency among people to ignore such ‘truths’ that do not coincide with a particular belief or political leaning.

He said that we tend towards the things being said with noisy noises. We don’t like conflicts with our beliefs. We live in a world that is constantly being divided into social, economic, and religious lines.

Fake news incidents are on the rise.

Justice Chandrachud said that it cannot be denied that incidents of fake news are increasing.

A pertinent example of this is that the World Health Organization (WHO) recently termed the current corona pandemic as ‘infodemic’ and highlighted the plethora of misinformation online.

Importance of truth in democracy.

Justice Chandrachud observed that the philosopher Hannah Arendt has said that totalitarian governments are relentlessly dependent on lies to establish dominance.

He said that truth is considered important in a democracy. Truth is important for creating public sentiment in a democracy.

This sends the message that those in responsible positions are committed to finding the truth and acting accordingly.

Truth builds the foundation of the nation.

He said that truth also plays an important role in building a common public mind which can form the foundation of the nation in the future.

On the role of the state in determining the truth, he said that it cannot be said that even in a democracy, the state will not indulge in lies for political reasons.

America’s role in the Vietnam War was exposed by the Pentagon’s document becoming public.

No dependence on the state for truth.

Justice Chandrachud said that in the context of Corona, we have seen that there has been a tendency to manipulate data in countries around the world.

Therefore one cannot depend only on the state for truth. Calling for a positive environment in schools and colleges, he said that this would give courage to the students to differentiate between lies and truth and to question those in power.

He also urged people to be kinder and more sensitive towards those around them.