This HC issues Notice seeking regulation of Social Media posts against judiciary

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has issued a notice to Centre, AP government, AP police, and Internet companies Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp in a writ petition filed by the Court itself seeking action against defamatory social media posts against the judiciary.

The petition filed through the High Court’s Registrar seeks action on two First Information Reports (FIR), lodged on 16 April and 18 April, complaining against unknown people posting defamatory and scandalous material on social media platforms against the judiciary.

The writ petition also has sought a direction to social media platforms to "devise a self-regulatory framework to prohibit the posting of defamatory, incriminatory and abusive content on their platform with respect to Indian judiciary, and remove all such posts and contents which are subject to FIR.

The AP HC wants the Central government to amend the Intermediary Guidelines of the IT Act to provide certain protections to the judiciary. It said abusive content against the Court should be declared illegal.

In May, AP HC on Tuesday issued suo moto contempt notices to 49 persons, including a Member of Parliament and a former Member of the legislative assembly, saying they made abusive social media posts against the judges.

Google, Facebook and Twitter not immediately available for comment.

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