Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed the Election Commission of India (EC) to make rules to remove political ads 48 hours prior to voting. The court directed EC to make these rules within a week. The court also told the EC to consider recommendations made by the petitioner and the affidavit filed by Facebook, Twitter and Google before the HC.
A division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Sagar Suryavanshi, seeking directions to the EC to regulate fake news in the form of paid political ads on social media.
On Friday, while hearing the petition, the court learnt that despite telling the EC to make norms within its powers, the EC had not made any norms to curb political advertisements 48 hours prior to voting.
During the hearing, the court said that it had been seen in India that it took hours to remove objectionable messages from social media. The court also brought to the notice of the ECI that the firing video of the New Zealand mosque was removed within minutes of it being uploaded but till then, it had gone viral and many people in the world acknowledged it.
In last hearing, the ECI informed the Bombay high court that social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube could not publish political advertisements without the approval of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC). The ECI also told the court that it would direct social media companies to remove unlawful and objectionable information that are unverified by the MCMC.
