Supreme Court Petition Urges Halt to Pornography on Social Media Platforms

A Supreme Court petition has been filed asking for orders to be given to the Center to prevent the display of pornographic or obscene content on social media platforms, as this is contributing to an increase in sexual offenses.

Easy access to porn via mobile internet is not only distorting sexual behavior but also causing an “alarming rise in sexual offenses” against minor girls, according to a PIL filed by pediatric surgeon Sanjay Kulshresthra.

The plea asked the top court to use its authority under the Information Technology Act to order the respondents to make sure social media platforms “make reasonable efforts to cause the users not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store or share obscene or pornographic material” to curb the rising number of sexual crimes.

The Union ministries of Women and Child Development, Home Affairs, and Electronics and Information Technology have been named as parties to the case by the petitioner.

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“Although there could be many reasons for the alarming rise in rapes in children, the petitioner has found that availability of easy, almost free internet making pornography available 24 hours, especially on mobile phones to all age groups, to all economic classes, could be a significant cause,” the complaint stated.
It claimed that men’s casual attitude toward sexual violence against women was a result of watching porn.