Supreme Court imposes fine of Rs. 1 lakh on Facebook & Google for failure to restrain videos of sexual offences

The Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs. 1 lakh on internet giants such as Google and Facebook for failing to file their replies pursuant to the Supreme Court directive to list the steps taken by the firms to block videos of sexual offenses on the virtual platforms. The Court had ordered the firms to file an affidavit in this respect by June 15 and depositing an amount with the registry in a fixed deposit. The bench comprising of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice U.U. Lalit had passed the said order dated April 16, requiring firms like Google Inc., Google India, Facebook Ireland , Facebook India, Yahoo, Microsoft and Whatsapp informing them about their failure to update the Court with any measures taken. The aim that is sought to be achieved by this step is to curb the videos of such nature. In this regard, the Ministry of Home Affairs in coordination with the State and the Union Government is promulgating Portal Integration with Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems. Also, as far as Institutional Mechanism at Central level is concerned, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is in talks with the States and other Ministries. The Government has stated that all the three activities shall be completed within a period of two months, i.e. by July 15. The Court however maintains that ample time had been provided to the firms and the penalty thus imposed is reasonable.