Hidayatullah National Law University: Mrs. Debmita Mondal

-:Project Report on:INTERNET AND POLITICS: REGULATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN INDIA

Submitted to

Mrs. Debmita Mondal (Faculty Member of Cyber Law)

Submitted by

Nirvikalp Shukla B. A. LL. B. (Hons.) Student Semester – VII, Section – C, Roll No. 105

Hidayatullah National Law University Uparwara Post, Abhanpur, New Raipur – 493661 (C.G.) -

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I feel highly elated to get to work on the topic “Internet and Politics: Regulation of Social Media in India”. The practical realization of this project has obligated the assistance of many persons. I express my deepest regard and gratitude for Mrs Debmita Mandal, faculty of Cyber Law. Her consistent supervision, constant inspiration and invaluable guidance have been an immense help in understanding and carrying out the nuances of this project report.

I would also like extend my hand of gratitude towards the friends and family, without whose support and encouragement this project would not have been a reality. I take this opportunity to thank the university, and the Honorable Vice Chancellor for providing extensive database resources in the library and through Internet. For any sort of errors that might have crept in, it is deeply regretted. I shall be grateful if further comments and suggestions are put forth regarding improvisation of the provisions.

~Nirvikalp Shukla ~Semester- 7th , Year- 4th ~Section- C, Roll No.- 105

TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration………………………………………….……………………………….4 Certificate……………………………………………………………………………4 Introduction and Research Methodology Synopsis……………………………………………………………………..…..….5 Research Methodology Aims and objectives……………………………………………………….……….6 Scope and limitations………………………………………………….….………..6 Research Questions……………………………………………………….….…….6 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….7 Political Impact………………………………………………………………………8 Online Dissent………………………………………………………………………11 Social Media Restrictions………………………………………………………….13 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...18 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….20

DECLARATION I Nirvikalp Shukla declare the work entitled “Internet and Politics: Regulation of Social Media in India” being submitted to Hidayatullah National Law University for the project in the subject of “Cyber Law” is original and where the text is taken from the authenticated books, articles or web articles, appropriate reference is given. It is true in my best of knowledge. Date : 19th September 2016

Nirvikalp Shukla Roll No 105 VII Semester

CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the project entitled “Internet and Politics: Regulation of Social Media in India” submitted by Mr. Nirvikalp Shukla for the project work in the subject of Cyber Law embodies independent and original research work carried out by him under my supervision and guidance. To the best of my knowledge and belief, it is his original work submitted to fulfill the project assignment for the seventh semester of B.A.LL.B. Programme during the academic year 2016-17 Date: 19th September 2016

Mrs. Debmita Mandal Asst. Professor in Law H.N.L.U, Raipur

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND REASERCH METHEDOLOGY Synopsis: Since the mid-1990s a new force has emerged to reshape modern society—the Internet. One aspect of society that the Internet has changed significantly is politics. In politics, the Internet has produced three types of change. The first is the way that politicians reach the voting public. Previously, politicians could only reach the public using the established media (television, radio, or newspapers and magazines) or by meeting people on the street. This is no longer the case. The second change produced by the Internet relates to the participation of the average citizen in political processes. People used to be limited to voting, sit-ins, strikes, public gatherings, letter writing, and similar types of activities, but since the advent of the Internet, many new activities have developed. The third change caused by the Internet is the creation of a whole new group of participants in the political process. Before the Internet was available, the only private groups that were politically active were either very large, very specialized, or both; the Internet has enabled small, local groups to also participate in politics. With the passage of time, Internet started having an impact on the politics and politics too, started to have an impact on internet by the mechanism of regulations. The aim of this research work is to establish the undeniable changes the advent of Internet and social networking has brought about in the field of Politics. As the internet assumes a massive role in political activism, campaigns and governance, it becomes evident that the internet is changing the way politics works. The tangible effects of social media are now coming to prominence as we see immediate consequences of various online campaigns, exposés and information leaks shift from the virtual world to the real. Natural human tendency to form clusters with likeminded individuals is leading to online political polarization of potential voters. Social Media is a volatile force that can both forge and demolish political careers and institutions. This is examined through various cases such as the Snowden-NSA scandal, the Narendra Modi internet campaign, the Obama Re-election campaign, the Assange-Wikileaks scandal and the Jasmine Revolution in China.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Aims and objectives: The aim of this project is to look at the relationship between the internet and politics with special reference to world’s largest democracy- India.  

To analyze the relationship between internet and politics. To understand how politics has an impact on the internet regulations and social media.

Scope and limitations: The project limits itself to studying the relationship between the internet and politics and the regulation of social media in India. The researcher’s study was even limited by his understanding as there could be some basic observations which he might have failed to put forward in the project due to limited understanding of the subject. Research questions 1

What is the relationship between internet and politics

2

How does politics influence the regulation of social media in India

Introduction Social media ostensibly comes across as a wasteful activity that yields nothing of value. Indeed social networks like Facebook and Twitter are dismissed by many as merely a means of short term gratification; a replacement for text messaging. To a discerning eye it is apparent that this is far from the truth. Social networking did start out as a way for people to communicate and keep in touch with each other via the internet in a much more interactive manner than email could offer, but has since evolved into a gargantuan presence that influences our online behaviour across various public forums on the internet. Social Media is no longer just a tool for college students to keep track of each other’s activities. With internet penetration reaching nearly 36% across the world1, the internet is now used by one out of every three persons. Social Media revolves around user generated content in interactive platforms allowing the kind of freedom that traditional forms of real and virtual media lack. Social media platforms can be divided on the basis of their content; Blogs (BlogSpot), microblogs (Twitter), content communities (YouTube), collaborative information (Wikipedia) etc. Most social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter rely on their highly interactive nature to attract a large number of internet users who in turn attract advertisers, thus driving up advertising revenues for the sites. And given the large number of users, many users advertise their own businesses to a customized consumer base, for direct and immediate response. Thus, social media platforms have become hubs of economic activity as well, while still being a place for people to interact with each other. This small fact has huge implications. Social networking cannot be dismissed as a mere technological fad, or a phase that the internet is going through. Interpersonal communication on the internet is no longer constrained to greetings. The internet allows unrestrained freedom to anybody who wants to express themselves, and is a hub for thoughts and ideas to flow freely. Anybody on the internet can say anything they wish to, and believe to be true. And if people can be influenced to buy products, they can be influenced by ideologies too and beliefs too, if convincingly put across. 1 World Bank. (n.d.). Internet users (per 100 people). Retrieved from: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2/countries/1W?display=default [Accessed: 17 Sept 2016].

Political Impact Politics is an intense and cut-throat race for the power to influence and make decisions, with leaders of various groups of people competing for positions in the decision making authorities of their respective countries. Vote bank based politics revolves around expanding the vote bank and bringing under influence, as much of the voter base as possible. Politicians have always relied on direct and personal communication with the voters to convince them to exercise their right to vote and to use it in their favour. Social media is built upon the premise of direct and personal communication. Traditionally, politicians rely on their oratorical skills and door-to-door campaigning, to keep in touch with the general public and are now switching to an easier and more convenient means: Social media. Political campaigns across the worlds now rely on social media platforms to advertise themselves and attack their opponents in equal measure. Advertising on these platforms has a primary advantage that most other forms of advertising cannot offer; the power to tailor the audience for any particular ad, based on any number of criteria, including age, gender, region etc. In the recent past, the growing impact of social media on politics across the world has garnered increasing attention from various researchers and scholars. In a massive study that had a sample of 61 million people undertaken in 2012, using the Barack Obama re-election campaign, the researchers concluded that online political mobilisation works.2 The study was conducted on three groups of people on Facebook; one group was shown constant messages asking them to vote, and a list of friends who had already voted, one group was shown messages suggesting them to vote, without the list of friends who had voted while the third group was shown no political message at all. Then, the electoral data was studied using publicly available records and 2 Robert M. Bond, Christopher J. Fariss, Jason J. Jones, Adam D. I. Kramer, Cameron Marlow, Jaime E. Settle & James H. Fowler (2012). A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization. Nature. 489, 295–298. doi:10.1038/nature11421

it was found that the data suggested that the tactics employed directly increased voter turnout by as much as 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion another 2,80,000 voters, leading to a total of 3,40,000 voters who had voted due to the influence of a single social networking site. This is a significant finding, because it shows how effective a viral campaign on Facebook can be, on influencing and inducing people to participate in a something. This also shows how influential the behaviour of online peers can be. The group that was shown the list of friends who had voted produced a larger number of people who voted. However, Facebook and its extensive privacy settings may not be the best place to study the impact of political messages. The Micro-blogging website Twitter, has emerged as the best place to study online political reverberations because of its unique ‘hash-tag system’ which makes identifying clusters of data with the same meaning, tone or message easier. Online communities with different political orientations begin forming and exchange heated discourse and debates about their respective political ideologies. The online world emulates the real world in all ways possible and the same holds true for spheres of political interest. In fact, the clashes between political fanatics become much more vicious online where it is not necessary to reveal one’s identity to express or attack a statement. In the conclusion of an extensive study on the behaviour of Twitter users with strong political ideologies and clear idea of party orientation 3, it is stated that “politically motivated individuals provoke interaction by injecting partisan content into information streams whose primary audience consists of ideologically opposed users.” In other words, people using social media often resort to goading other members online into a clash of beliefs. Hence, it is but natural that political entities take advantage of this phenomenon and use it for their advantage. Election campaigns in most countries with internet access rely on internet activism, especially on social media to help gain the support of a larger vote bank. In India, Narendra Modi, the Prime Ministerial candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party has been exceptionally clever at handling his public image through the medium of social media. Online presence of a political candidate is all the more important in the Indian context because of the mud-slinging that is prevalent in Indian politics. Clearing one’s name goes a long way in influencing skeptical voters, as does 3 M. D. Conover, J. Ratkiewicz, M. Francisco, B. Gonc¸alves, A. Flammini & F. Menczer (2011). Political Polarization on Twitter. Retrieved from http://truthy.indiana.edu/site_media/pdfs/conover_icwsm2011_polarization.pdf

tarnishing the image and reputation of another. It has been observed that Modi follows the Obama model of online presence, with a personal website and blog along with Twitter accounts in 9 languages. However, Modi did not stop with opening a few social networking accounts. Narendra Modi has employed some of India’s richest IT geniuses, who made amassed wealth during the ‘dotcom rush’ in the 90s. BJP’s social media campaigning amounts a large chunk of the party expenditure on advertising, and is backed by the best in the advertising industry, thus making it an effective and worthwhile method of making people aware of the political scenario in the country. Modi has been at the receiving end of backlash for his alleged involvement in the inducement of riots in Gujarat in 2002, which persists as a dark blot on his public image. This is an analytical piece and will not focus on personal ideologies, but it is imperative to mention that Narendra Modi has cleverly used his extensive marketing campaigns to focus only on his models of development and personal ideologies and agendas, while moving attention away from past allegations of serious crimes and targeting the opposition party for their short comings. Narendra Modi is not the only politician to join the social media bandwagon. In fact, most prominent political parties now have dedicated ‘IT Cells’ to handle their public image online. The online vote bank in India is large, with the number of total Facebook users in India set to surpass that of America in 2014-15

4

and having an influential online position may very well

prove to be a deciding factor in the 2014 general elections in India. The Election Commission in India seems to be floundering as it struggles to keep up with the advent of social media and newer forms of campaigning. For instance, election campaigning has to stop 48 hours before elections. Is the Election Commission expected to monitor every popular social media outlet for 48 hours, searching for tweets or Facebook posts that may amount to campaigning? With the amount of money being spent on online advertising and campaigning by political parties, the Election Commission in India has announced that it will be closely monitoring online expenditure by candidates to see if the election code of conduct is followed.5

4 Harjani, A. (2012, May 16). India Set to Overtake US as Facebook’s Largest Market. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/47441565

What differentiates social media from more traditional forms of media is the freedom it is accorded. The Italian case clearly highlights this. Italy is a country with strong democratic roots. However, most forms of traditional Italian media are state controlled. Widespread internet usage spread through Italy after 2000 and Italy has held three elections since then. In the 2013 elections, the two-party coalition that had been incumbent since 1994 was overthrown by a new comer party, the 5 Star Movement (M5S). The victory of the M5S party in the election has been directly correlated to increased broadband availability and the ability to express discontent and form like-minded groups online.6 The high speed communication the internet facilitates and social media takes advantage of, is a very important factor in deciding the elections in any democratic country. People express their views and are instantly met with assent or dissent and this helps shape political views across the concerned country and even overseas, as the Internet is bound by national territories.

Online Dissent While the advent of social media has helped revolutionize how Governments are formed, it has helped bring down Governments as well. All the cases we have seen so far have been democracies. This is because of the direct causal relationship that can be observed in a situation where democratic elections are influenced by enthusiastic and voluble ‘netizens’ (citizens of the online world) and virtual political campaigns. In countries without democracies, or flawed democracies, there always exists a growing discontent against the restrictions on freedom and personal rights. This dissent is expressed on social media forums and slowly gathers steam until it can snowball into a movement that affects millions of people in the real world. Such a movement was observed in the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt, which helped overthrow a regime.

5 Srivastava, Rajiv. (2013, October 10). Politicians' use of social media on Election Commission's scanner. Times of India. Retrieved from www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com 6 Campante, F, Durante, R, and Sobbrio F (2013), “Politics 2.0.: The Multifaceted Effect of Broadband Internet on Political Participation”, NBER Working Paper 19029.

Five people anonymously administered a Facebook page, communicating over Google’s e-mail system (which doesn’t allow outsiders to trace a mail back to the sender’s IP address) effectively avoiding police detection. A Facebook Event page was created, calling for a protest movement on January 25th, which became the first day of the revolution. It showcased the astounding impact of a networking website, where increased mobilization was possible, where events and locations could be set up as decoys-only to be changed later at a moment’s notice- where there were no boundaries limiting who could access the information being given out. A single Facebook page changed the entire concept of a revolutionary as relevant in the modern society. With the backdrop of unemployment, corruption and human rights abuse, the website acted as a critical component in the facilitation of the movement in Egypt. It was found that over 52% of the participants in the Tahrir Square movement in Egypt which saw approximately 2 million people protesting to overthrow the regime of President Hosni Mubarak were there directly because of what they had heard on Facebook7. It was observed that even if other factors were controlled, social media greatly increased the likelihood of a protestor attending the first day of the protests. An important factor here is that the online political sphere in Egypt did not face much censorship or restraint for most of its early phase of development, with only a few arrests or shutting down of blogs, after the protests started. Simmering anger and discontent was not limited to the online sphere but it helped amplify the efforts and put forth strong points against the regime. The introduction of Facebook in Arabic in 2009 helped step up the efforts to a higher level. The Tahrir Square protests were the result of a slow buildup of tension in both the real world and online. Without the involvement of social media, it is possible that the turnout at the protests may not have been large enough to draw global attention, like it did. Protests and rallies are not the only ways in which social media has affected politics in the real world. Scandals, scams and other sensitive information often leak on the internet, tarnishing reputations and toppling political careers. The case of Anthony Weiner is a classic example of how social media can make or break a political career. Anthony Weiner is an American politician, whose political career was destroyed by a ‘sexting’ (sexual messaging) scandal after 7 Tufekci, Z. and Wilson, C. (2012), Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations From Tahrir Square. Journal of Communication, 62: 363–379. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01629.x

he admitted to having sent sexually explicit images to over 9 women via popular social networking sites. Weiner was a member of the New York City Council for 7 years, a congressional aide for 6 years and in running for Mayor of New York in 2005, before resigning from Congress in 2011 after it was found that he had been sending sexually explicit images to various women on Twitter. Weiner ran for Mayor again in 2013 but got caught in yet another sex scandal, and the uproar caused on the internet led to an extreme fall in support, with him getting merely 5% of the total votes in the mayoral primary. This goes on to show that in the virtual world, information is power. Mudslinging and name calling is common, but when heavy impact is desired, it is such exposes and information leaks that leave an impression, by causing an uproar. The WikiLeaks incident is common knowledge and an apt example of how powerful information can be in the online world. Spearheaded by Julian Assange, the movement aimed at leaking confidential and highly controversial Government documents across the world led to an outcry from Government authorities who were helpless, but gained sympathy from the citizens. Just as the scandal seemed to fade away from public memory, a former CIA employee, Edward Snowden released over 2,00,000 confidential documents that revealed that the NSA was spying on innocent citizens in an attempt to control terrorism. Interestingly, Snowden has been termed a hero by citizens and a traitor by the Government. Internet users value their privacy and are naturally not comfortable with revealing personal data which can be used to glean personal information. 8 But privacy on the internet has become somewhat of a rare commodity, with authorities across the world increasingly resorting to restricting online freedom for various causes.

Social Media Restrictions Censorship and propaganda serve as remarkable equipment to provide governments with ability to control the mindsets of the population on an incomprehensibly large scale. The former 8 Bilogrevic, Igor; Jadliwala, Murtuza; Lam, Istvan; Aad, Imad, Ginzboorg, Philip; Niemi, Valtteri; Bindschaedler, Laurent; Hubaux, Jean-Pierre. Big Brother Knows Your Friends: On Privacy of Social Communities in Pervasive Networks. Pervasive Computing Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2012, Vol. 7319, 370-387. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-31205-2_23

involves keeping under lock and key the materials that have the potential to incite rebellions among the people, while the latter makes use of available means of broadcasting information, to stimulate popular opinions that adhere to the ideas found desirable by the governments in power. The Middle Eastern region has been subjected to some of the most oppressive regimes, which have taken innumerable measures to clamp down on free speech over the internet. Turkmenistan, Syria, etc being Islamic countries, the question has been raised whether religious conservatism is a cause of the increasing degree of internet censorship. The 2013 World Freedom Press Index, published by Reporters Without borders9, ranked Iran as 174th out of 179 countries, while Syria was ranked 176 and Turkmenistan at 177. The indicator can be broken down by region, producing scores from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the country’s total respect for media and press freedom. While Europe has a score of 17.5, the Middle East and North African region comes last, producing a score of 48.5, despite the revolutions of the Arab Springs. While broadly examining the results, it may appear at face value that religious conservatism is the deciding factor for internet censorship. And while it may well have some bearing, it cannot be stated as the conclusive factor. Occupying the last position as 179 th is Eritrea, which has a predominantly Islamic population, but also a considerable Christian populace. North Korea, at 178th position, has a mainly irreligious demographic, with a mix of religions including Buddhism and Christianity. Similarly, China has no nominal major religion, while Cuba has a Christian majority population. This stands as an indication that the connection between the presence of a particular religion and media censorship is, at best, a tenuous one. What then, is the cause of restriction of online freedom? Most of the countries in the Middle Eastern region have had decades of authoritarian and military rule, with the institution of democracy being introduced for the first time in decades, in countries like Tunisia and Libya. Political ideologies and institutions thus share a clear relationship with censorship of the media in a country. China operates the world’s most sophisticated system of censorship (colloquially known as ‘The Great Firewall’), with certain potentially sensitive search terms being blocked on the internet. 9 Reporters Without Borders, World Press Freedom Index - 2013, 2013, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/5108f621e.html [accessed 29 November 2013]

One prominent example is that of Chen Guangcheng, a human rights activist who escaped house arrest in eastern China, to the US embassy in Beijing. Several keywords related to his case have been listed as banned terms on the website Sina Weibo (similar to the micro-blogging site Twitter). This acts as an effective way of keeping information from being transferred through social media, leaving the vast majority of the population unaware of the development of the situation. A similar situation arose in the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests (named the Jasmine Revolution) where searches related to the word ‘jasmine’ were blocked on Sina Weibo. Though the movement was seen as a significant part of the impact of the Arab Springs, tight control over the internet and media made mobilization and call for mass protests much more difficult during the Jasmine Revolution. When the Government controls the medium of free speech, Social media is rendered useless as an effective tool of communication, and is reduced to a mere means of entertainment. Chinese cyber-dissidents include Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo, dissident Liu Xianbin (sentenced to a 10-year term for inciting subversion of the government) and lawyer Ni Yulan, among others. Governmental interference of the internet is not limited to the Middle East and China alone. In a state where citizens are deprived of information pertaining to the rest of the world, propaganda dictates content being published and accessed over the internet. North Korea uses Red Star- its own custom-built operating system, and Kwangmyong, the country’s state-run internet service provider. The system has been designed such that it is easy for the state to control and modify it as necessary. The internet is accessible only by the elites- academicians, scientists and politicians- while the general population has no access to the web. From 2007 to 2013 North Korea has been listed second last of the 177 countries (Eritrea occupying the last place) in the World Freedom Press Index (2013). Unsurprisingly, India ranks a measly 140th in the same Index, with increasing violence against journalists being cited as one of the main reasons for this ranking. In the recent past, media restrictions in India have been on a steep incline. Indian Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr.Kapil Sibal claimed to support complete online freedom, while

subtly slipping in hints about arbitrary censorship measures for the sake of “communal harmony”10. Laws in India regarding cybercrimes are still in a stage of infancy and are vague at their best. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act (2000), states “Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device, — … any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character…. shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.” 11 The term “grossly offensive” is open to interpretation by authorities. This poses a serious threat to the freedom of expression online, as seen in an incident in Mumbai where two young women were arrested for expressing their views about a deceased politician on Facebook, and booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Ironically, misuse of social media has not been restricted to citizens. Politicians have slowly begun to comprehend the immense power of a strong social media presence and have started to employ dubious methods to impress the online world and make them heard. In a recent undercover operation conducted by a little known News Corporation, it was found that various IT companies offered to help boost the public image of anyone willing to discreetly pay cash while maligning opponents at the same time.12 Services offered included: 1. Generation of fake followers on various social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Blogspot; 2. Deletion of negative comments/posts; 3. Negative publicity against opponents of the client (politicians, referred to as “Netaji”); 4. Creation of fake profiles with Muslim names to show support of the Muslim community

10 Sathe, G., & Agrawal, S. (2013, March 21).Internet governance is an oxymoron, says Kapil Sibal. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Z7mTX6YrUDdH6lEs15im2L/Kapil-Sibal-allays-fears-onInternet-censorship.html [Accessed: 30 Nov 2013]. 11 Information Technology Act (2000). Amended (2008). 12 Cobrapost.(2013, November 28). Cobrapost represents ‘Operation Blue Virus’: Press Release. Cobrapost. Retrieved from http://www.cobrapost.com/index.php/news-detail?nid=4024&cid=23

This leads to an important question: Should social media be accorded complete and unbridled freedom, without any form of policing or control? Ours is a country that has strong partisan factors deeply entrenched in religious beliefs and notions. Social media platforms become an outlet for pent up frustration in those who may not exhibit proper restraint of thought and provoke irate responses. In the case of the recent Muzaffarnagar communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh, a lawyer, Shehzad Poonawalla urged the National Human Rights Commission to direct the department of telecommunications to screen posts on social media that were inciting violence. Poonawalla stated that his objective behind filing a petition was to highlight how social media was being misused by bigoted persons with separatist intentions. 13 The Muzaffarnagar clashes were mainly attributed to viral videos on YouTube, even though the authenticity of that claim is debatable. A large section of our population is still illiterate and rumours can run rife and very often, violence is not the only result. For instance, polio campaigns failed in Muslim communities in 2006 because of a rumour that the polio vaccine resulted in sterilization of the baby. With the 2014 elections just around the corner, are we to resign ourselves to the possibility that every breach of law might be attributed to a social media post? Social media is a double edged sword. The power that comes with the freedom of expression and unmonitored activity is easily misused. The social networking sites that have been used to start peaceful protests can be used to ignite communal violence and riots as well. In a country like India, where religious sentiments are easily affected and religious fanatics don’t hesitate to play with these emotions, it is very important to make sure that careless activities on the online don’t lead to unintended consequences like loss of life and property.

13 Tehelka. Muzaffarnagar Riots: Complaint Lodged Against Inflammatory Content On Social Media.(2013, September 9). Tehelka. Retrieved from http://www.tehelka.com/muzaffarnagar-riots-complaint-lodged-againstinflammatory-content-on-social-media/ (Visited on 29 November 2013).

Conclusion The ability to move considerable amounts of information across vast distances within a negligible period of time has formed, over the course of the previous decades, the bedrock of our contemporary society. Lauded as the greatest communication innovation this century has seen, abridgments to the open freelance atmosphere of the Internet have been frequently attempted by various governments, with different objectives as regards the requirement of the degree and extent of censorship of the virtual world. The roots of the internet lie in the function of its predecessor, which had been designed with the intent to ensure communication in the event of a nuclear attack, by compensating for ruined servers and telephone lines. The very crux of the Internet lies in its ability to overcome such barriers. Irrespective of the imposition of heavy censorship, it is inevitable that communication will not be halted permanently. It is hard not to resort to rhetoric while elucidating the massive role that social media plays in our daily life. The internet is a tool which facilitates, amongst many other things, interpersonal communication and exchange of ideas, views and theories. It is this feature that makes the internet what it is. To completely curtail freedom of expression in social media is to end social

media as we know it. However, a virtual world without any form of regulatory authority whatsoever would be no different from the real world without any restrictions imposed on people, for the safety of the general public. Regulation is as necessary on the internet as it is on any other commercial venue. E-commerce websites all require some minimal regulation in order to function effectively. Original works published on the internet have no reason to be exempt from the principles of intellectual property law and copyright. The sharing of explicit images, child pornography and other illegal content has to be monitored on the internet, as it would be in real life. These factors demand some minimal regulatory body to intervene. Varying opinions exist regarding the importance of censorship of content on the internet. While the principle of freedom of expression has to be kept in mind, it is also critical that one consider the necessity of monitoring hate speech and bigoted opinions, the expression of which has become considerably easier with the widespread use of the worldwide web. There is a vital distinction between censorship and monitoring of offensive or obscene content. Where one seeks to protect the sentiments of a particular group being targeted, the other involves prohibiting content which may show a political group in an unfavorable light, or act in any way as an impetus to starting a rebel movement. It is this censorship that violates the basic freedom of the people, by presenting to them a distorted view of the truth. The effect of communication via the internet may have proved to be a boon in many cases, but its detrimental effects under those circumstances cannot be overlooked. As a consequence of the Egyptian revolutions, totalitarian regimes in the region acted swiftly to block the free flow of information through the web, using several means, such as slowing down the internet speed, blocking certain topics or websites which were deemed to be controversial, as well as carrying out surveillance and monitoring internet usage. There were also instances of deaths of activists, such as Zakariya Rashid Hassan, who died in custody in Bahrain, a week after being arrested for disseminating false news, and calling for the overthrow of the government on online forums. Politically motivated surveillance, accompanied by draconian punishments meted out to bloggers and activists pose considerable danger to freedom of an individual on the internet. The importance of government intervention, however, is not to be overlooked or underestimated. Without a regulatory authority, the bigoted and the ignorant would find an ideal platform to

propound their views, alienating separate communities on a superficial basis. There is a distinction drawn here between activities that are immoral, and ones that are illegal. While conceptions of immorality are open to subjective interpretations and definitions tend to differ, illegality of a subject remains relatively constant with time. Given the undeniable advent of the internet throughout the world, it is inevitable that governments would attempt to impose their own views to the rest of the society through this platform. This may go beyond a mere expression of opinion, and lead to imposition of several regulations, which would render the internet, as a tool of mass communication and a place of freedom of speech, very early nonexistent. It becomes critical to rethink various approaches to censorship, and to allow the web to expand and grow of its accord. After all, the Internet is a virtual world that emulates the real world in more ways than one.

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