Policies/Regulation

The government said in the Supreme Court that it is withdrawing its tender to establish a Social Media Communications Hub, according to the Internet Freedom Foundation*. The tender was criticised for instituting a social media surveillance apparatus, and a petition was filed along these grounds by Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress leader.

The Attorney General of India appeared for the government, saying that the government will withdraw the tender and review it. Earlier on Friday, Scroll reported that the I&B Ministry, whose subsidiary BECIL issued the tender, had no records of correspondence within the government that led up to the issuing of the tender.

Trinamool Congress legislator Mahua Moitra’s petition in the Supreme Court captures a key concern with the tender — the capacity for mass surveillance. The tender, the petition points out, is seeking the ability for the ministry to “Monitor individual social media user/account”, a phrase that is used in the actual tender. The tender seeks detailed individual information about ‘influencers’ and emerging trends. “The very act of surveillance in and of itself constitutes a “restriction” on free speech and expression,” the petition argues. “If a man is shadowed, his movements are obviously constricted,” the petition quoted a Supreme Court judgement as observing.