Technology is present in every aspect of our life, it may seem to make our lives easy but technology has its disadvantages also, in the same way the social network websites and apps which are used for sending messages also have both advantages and disadvantages. In today’s world, especially on these messaging apps, sharing is considered as caring but if someone shares “objectionable content” which hurts the sentiments of a particular religion or particular group then it can be a problem for the person who had shared it.
The biggest problem lies in the fact that there is no clear definition of “objectionable content”, even law doesn’t state any clear outline on the matter and people have their own opinions regarding it.
In an incident in Latur, Maharashtra, an administrator of a WhatsApp group was arrested with three other persons on the charges of sharing objectionable content regarding cow slaughtering and PM Modi. Earlier also, incidents of this type have taken place when the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and Shaheen Dhada were arrested.
A report of Press Trust of India (PTI) says that the four were arrested by the police under sections 153 of the IPC (promoting enmity and ill will), section 34 and section 67 of IT Act, 2000.
Section 67 of the IT act talks about transmitting obscene content through electronic content and Section 37 talks about the authorities who certify and their roles.
As per the reports, the administrator of the group has been held as responsible for the incident but there is nobody who can justify why he is considered as main culprit.
Cyber Security Expert, Dhanya Menon says, “Like how a principal is in charge of whatever happens in a school, the administrator is responsible for content in the group. The administrator is the one who creates the group and adds or removes members, so he or she should know who is being added and what content the members may share.”
She also said that if the admin is not sure about the members added and content that is being shared, he should exit the group but till a specific legislation comes into force regarding the matter, till then holding admin responsible is absolutely correct.
An administrator is the one who forms the group but how can you held him responsible for the content that is shared by any other person of the group, what if the administrator exits the group then WhatsApp at random gives the rights of administrator to anyone, then will he be responsible?
If it is the scenario, then nobody should become an admin of any WhatsApp group because admin is responsible for “objectionable” content despite the fact that it is shared by other member of the group.
There are some points which should be taken into consideration in these matters, firstly a clear definition of “objectionable content” should be provided by the law as to make clear what should not be shared on social media networks and messaging apps. Secondly, the person who shares the content in the group should be responsible for it and not the administrator of the group and thirdly, people should be careful while sharing the content as it may create problems not only for themselves but also for the admin of the group.
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