Social media platforms will be held liable for failure to counter misuse

Adverse use of social media platforms has emerged as a new challenge in recent times. says, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Friday said that social media platforms will be held responsible if they fail to make adequate arrangements to counter misuse and don’t take prompt action against adverse posts ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.


He further said, If adequate arrangements aren’t made to counter the misuse of the social media then they will not be allowed to take pretext of being only a provider and shall be held responsible if necessary action is not taken promptly and adequately.


Sunil Arora also asked political parties to sensitise their candidates against ‘malpractices, malicious propaganda and instances of hate speech’.

Sources said, that a call on controversial material on social media will have to be taken on a case-to-case basis. “Elections are conducted under Constitution and the Supreme Court in its judgement has held on a number of occasions that Article 324 gives vast powers to the Commission subject to certain restrictions such as fairness and transparency.

“It’s commendable that the CEC is speaking about this, however, the ECI has failed to advance any reforms to protect electoral democracy in the digital age in India. Prior to the 2019 general elections, many groups working on electoral reforms, democracy and fundamental rights issues wrote to the ECI and went public with their suggestion on how the ECI can take steps in this area.