Facebook India head moves apex court challenging Delhi Assembly summons

Facebook India vice president Ajit Mohan moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the notices issued by the Delhi Legislative Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee. The panel, which is probing the Delhi riots of February 2020 and the role of the social media giant in failing to curb hate speech in connection with the riots, sought Mohan’s presence for a deposition on September 23.

The petition will be heard by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Wednesday. 

The petition stated that the subject matter under investigation by the Delhi assembly falls within the exclusive domain of the Centre and a state legislative assembly cannot compel witnesses to appear and provide evidence on such subjects.

“The Committee seeks to compel petitioner No. 1 (Ajit Mohan) to provide testimony on subjects within the exclusive domain of the Union of India. Specifically, the Committee is seeking to make a “determination of the veracity of allegations levelled against Facebook” in the Delhi riots, which intrudes into subjects exclusively allocated to the Union of India,” the petition said.

Regulation of intermediaries like Facebook falls within the Union list of the Constitution under the Entry “Communication” (Entry 31) in the said list. The Parliament, in exercise of that power enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000 to regulate intermediaries. Therefore, any assessment of the veracity of allegations against Facebook as an intermediary is exclusively a Union subject, the plea further said.

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'Chilling effect on free speech rights'

The panel headed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha had on Tuesday issued a warning to Facebook India after Mohan failed to appear before the committee for its third hearing, despite having been summoned. The committee had earlier said Facebook was in contempt of the Delhi Assembly and gave the social media company a “final warning” to heed the summons and appear before it, dismissing a letter sent by executives of the firm, declining to present themselves before the panel.

In the petition, Ajit Mohan has contended that the summons violates the right of the petitioner to remain silent and the right to privacy which are fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

“By targeting Facebook – a platform that allows users to express themselves – the summons create a chilling effect on the free speech rights of users of the Facebook service,” the plea added.

Ajit Mohan appears before IT panel

Earlier this month, Ajit Mohan had appeared before a parliamentary panel called to discuss the alleged "misuse of social media platforms", against the backdrop of the larger row over the social-media platform's hate-speech policy. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology was convened to hear Facebook's views on the subject of "safeguarding citizens' rights" along with "prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms"; including special emphasis on women security in the digital space, as per the agenda of the meeting. It was headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor along with representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. 

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