oppn parties Regulating Social Media Platforms

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Tiranga Rally Is Excellent. Breaking The Law Was Not

October 17, 2026

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News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Regulating Social Media Platforms

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-10-31 09:41:28

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

The government of India has issued amended rules for social media companies. These ask the platforms to make "reasonable efforts" to prevent information or news that is fake or misleading from being transmitted through their platform. This is a step in the right direction. Traditional media is regulated and such media companies take reasonable steps to prevent dissemination of fake or misleading news. Social media needs to be similarly regulated and must also have a robust self-regulation mechanism. It is not enough for these platforms to argue that they are just allowing user generated content. They need to be held accountable in the same manner as the traditional media for they are following the same advertisement-backed revenue model, without - importantly - the necessary expenditure for gathering news.

Interestingly, despite denials, it has been found that social media platforms create algorithms that favour content that is likely to cause conflicts since it has more chances of going viral. They also indulge in censorship as per their policy. Hence, it is necessary to end the immunity granted to them on the plea of just publishing user generated content because the users are mostly unverified and the content is also from unverified sources and could be part of devious agendas.

In this regard, it should be made mandatory for social media platforms to allow only verified users to post on the platform. The government had told Parliament in March this year that it is not making user verification mandatory for social media platforms as that will raise important questions about matters of privacy and interest of safety and trust. But given the fact that unverified and anonymous users can create unlimited mischief on social media by transmitting fake or misleading news, morphed pictures and videos or abusing others without accountability (yes they can be traced through their IP address but that is in case a complaint in lodged), it is necessary to put a name and picture to go with the chosen nickname of the user. In any case, if someone decides to be part of a democratic public discourse on social media, he or she must stand up for who and what they are instead of pontificating, creating mischief or hurling abuses and threats through faceless accounts. 

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