Election Process Threatened By Social Media Manipulation: Supreme Court

"By the very reason of the platform they provide, their influence extends over populations across borders. Facebook is one such corporation," said the bench.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that election process, which is the very foundation of a democratic government, stand threatened by "social media manipulation" and digital platforms can be "imminently uncontrollable at times" and carry their own challenges. The top court said that information explosion in digital age is capable of creating new challenges that are insidiously modulating the debate on issues where opinions can be vastly divided and successful functioning of a liberal democracy can only be ensured when citizens are able to make informed decisions. A bench headed by Justice SK Kaul said that power and potentiality of these intermediaries is vast, running across borders, and these are multinational corporations with large wealth and influence at their command. "By the very reason of the platform they provide, their influence extends over populations across borders. Facebook is one such corporation," said the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy.