SC imposes Rs 1 lakh costs on Google, FB, Yahoo, Microsoft, WhatsApp in online child pornography case

Hitting out at internet giants Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft and WhatsApp for their lethargic response to disclose steps taken to curb the circulation of child pornography on their platforms, the Supreme Court has imposed a fine a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each company..The Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit noted,.“In our order dated 16.04.2018, we had required the parties before us i.e. Yahoo, Facebook Ireland, Facebook India, Google India, Google Inc., Microsoft and Whats App to let us know the status of progress made pursuant to the recommendations accepted by these entities as mentioned in the Report of the Committee..None of these entities has filed anything to show us the progress nor any of these entities is ready with any response pursuant to our aforesaid order.”.Therefore, the Court saw it fit to slap a fine of Rs 1 lakh each, to be paid while filing the affidavit of status reports with the Court registry on or before June 15, 2018..“We direct these entities to file an affidavit on or before 15th June 2018 giving us the status of the progress made. .The Registry will accept the affidavit filed by these entities along with costs of Rs.1 lac each which will be kept in a fixed deposit for a short-term period immediately upon receipt.”.As regards the progress made by the state in the matter, the Bench noted that a substantial amount of work still remains to be done..The Court has also directed that state measures, including the launch of the Online Cyber Crime reporting portal, be expedited so that they be launched by June 30. This was in response to the state’s submission that the various protective measures were due to be completed by July 15. The Court ordered,.“In our opinion, more than sufficient time has been taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs to complete these tasks and to complete other tasks. However, time is granted to the Ministry of Home Affairs to complete the tasks on or before 30th June 2018.”.The matter will be taken up next on July 2, 2018. The order also makes it clear that these proceedings need not be in camera..The case has its genesis in a complaint sent in January to former Chief Justice of India HL Dattu by an NGO, Prajwala, along with a pen drive of two rape videos on YouTube. The Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the letter and has been debating the possibility of blocking videos of sexual assault and child pornography.In March 2017, the Supreme Court had constituted a Committee to assist and advise the Court on the feasibility of ensuring that videos depicting gang rape, child pornography and rape are not made available on the internet. Last year, the Court had also agreed to hold in-camera hearings in the case..Read Order: