Social Media Offences

Social Media Offence

• More and more people, regardless of age and
gender, are signing up for profiles on online
social networks for connecting with each other
in this virtual world.
• Fake profiles often spam legitimate users,
posting inappropriate or illegal content.
• Fake profiles are also created while
misrepresenting some known person to cause
harassment to him/her.
 Offences
• Posting of defamatory comment or material
against someone- Offence under Section 66A of
the IT Act, punishable with imprisonment.
• Even liking of sharing such comment can
constitute an offence.
• Posting defamatory material or comment-
Criminal defamation under Section 499 of IPC.
• Posting of defamatory material or comment
against someone- he or she can sue you before
the civil court and seek damages besides
injunction.
 Offences
• Posting or selling pornographic material on
the net- Offence under Section 292, 292A,
293, 294 IPC punishable with imprisonment.
• Posting secret information, documents of
Government, photographs of prohibited place-
Punishable for the violation of Officials Secrets
Act.
• Posting copied material on the website-
Offence under Copyright Act.
 Dos and Don’ts on social media:
• Do not make unknown people as friends.
Do not like or share seemingly offensive
comments.
Do not make offensive comments against anyone.
Do not post or share offensive material even
against your know persons.
Do not share any link with porn sites or like porn
material.
Do not post copied material anywhere as it may
be in violation of the Copyright Act
 Law on Social Media Offences
• Social media law India is regulated by the
Information Technology Act which was enacted in
the year 2000 to regulate, control and deal with
the issues arising out of the IT.
• Social networking media is an “intermediary”
within the meaning of Indian information
technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000).
• Thus social networking sites in India are liable for
various acts or omissions that are punishable
under the laws of India.
 Sec 66A and its repeal
• Section 66A of the IT Act has been enacted to
regulate the social media law India and assumes
importance as it controls and regulates all the
legal issues related to social media law India.
• This section clearly restricts the transmission,
posting of messages, mails, comments which can
be offensive or unwarranted.
• The offending message can be in form of text,
image, audio, video or any other electronic
record which is capable of being transmitted.
 Sec 66A and its repeal
• However, in 2015, in a landmark judgments
upholding the right to free speech in recent
times, the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal and
Ors. vs Union of India, struck down Section 66A
of the Information & Technology Act, 2000.
• The ruling which is being lauded by the common
man and legal luminaries alike, found the Cyber
law provision to be open-ended, vague and
unconstitutional owing to the restriction it caused
to the Indian citizens’ right to free speech.
Provisions under Indian Penal Code
• The repeal of S.66A does not however result in an
unrestricted right to free speech since analogous provisions
of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) will continue to apply to
social media online viz
• Intentionally Insulting Religion Or Religious Beliefs (S. 295A)
• Promoting Enmity Between Groups On Grounds Of
Religion, Race Etc. (S. 153A)
• Defamation (S. 499)
• Statements conducing to Public Mischief (S. 505)
• Insulting The Modesty Of A Woman (S 509)
• Criminal Intimidation (S 506)
• Sedition (S124-A), etc.
 Contd/-
• One of the important section that would be
effective against posting offensive messages on
social media would be invoking sec 499 and 500
of IPC.
• Under the IPC, the defamatory statement could
be oral or written or in sign language or by visible
representation and should be made/ published
with intention to harm or with knowledge about
its defamatory character (IPC, section 499).
 Contd/-
• Section 499, IPC is wide enough to encompass
the publication and dissemination of defamatory
content via electronic means. Defamation is
punishable under section 500, IPC.
• Section 292, IPC prohibits sale, letting on hire,
distribution, public exhibition and circulation etc.,
of obscene material.
• Section 293 provides enhanced punishment for
sale etc. of obscene material to any person under
the age of twenty years. Even an offer or attempt
to do so is punishable.
 Contd/-
• Publishing as well as circulating of obscene
photographs of women is also punishable
under sections 3 and 4 of the Indecent
Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act,
1986
 Sexual harassment
• When a person posts lewd comments on social
media, they are liable under Section 354A IPC
and can be punished with one year imprisonment
and fine.
• The provision also covers posting or messaging
content related to pornography against the will of
a woman and demand or request of sexual
favours which, are punishable with three years
imprisonment and fine.
 Voyeurism
• Both IPC and IT Act list voyeurism as an offence.
• If a man captures an image of a woman engaged
in a private act without her consent, he will be
punishable under Section 354C IPC which, holds
the man liable to a minimum one year
imprisonment extending to maximum three years
along with fine.
• The law can be invoked in circumstances where a
woman would not usually have the expectation
to be observed by the perpetrator.
 Sexually explicit content
• The IT Act goes a step ahead and holds
persons liable for publishing or transmitting
sexually explicit material in electronic form.
• The first conviction would result in three years
imprisonment along with fine extending to Rs.
10 lakh and upon second conviction, a person
would be held for seven years jail term along
with a similar fine.
 Online Stalking
• An attempt to contact a woman to foster
personal interaction despite her clear disinterest
and monitoring her through Internet, email or
through any other electronic communication is
stated as an offence under Section 354D IPC.
Commit the offence once and one would be
punishable for three years, commit the offence
twice and one would be punishable for five years.
A harasser would be liable to pay fine in both the
cases.
 Obscene content on Internet:
• Using words like “lascivious” and “prurient”,
Section 292 of the IPC defines a book,
pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting,
representation, figure or any other object as
obscene if it proves to have lascivious content
or appeals to be of prurient interest. Defining
obscene content in electronic form, Section 67
IT Act reiterates the IPC provision adding the
term “electronic form” to the law.
 defamation
• The law of defamation is mostly used by high-
profile persons but in fact it can be used as a
shield if a person by visible representations
publicises an imputation of a woman with the
intention to harm. Section 499 IPC would
cover, remarks on social media, obscene
images or videos posted for public view.
Whoever defames a woman online is liable to
two years in jail.
 Criminal intimidation:
• f a woman is being threatened by a person
who has the intention to harm her reputation
or alarm her, the latter would be punished
with two years under Section 503 IPC. Similar
to Section 503, another provision mentioned
in IPC is Section 507 IPC which punishes a
person for two years if the person intimidates
or threatens a woman by anonymous
communication.
 Cyber stalking

• Ritu Kohli (first lady to register the cyber stalking

case) is a victim of cyber-stalking. A friend of
her husband gave her phone number and name
on a chat site for immoral purposes. A computer
expert, Kohli was able to trace the culprit. Now,
the latter is being tried for "outraging the
modesty of a woman", under Section 509 of IPC.
 State of Tamil Nadu Vs Suhas Kat
Conviction within 7 months
The case related to posting of obscene, defamatory and annoying message
about a divorcee woman in the yahoo message group. E-Mails were also
forwarded to the victim for information by the accused through a false e-mail
account opened by him in the name of the victim. The posting of the message
resulted in annoying phone calls to the lady in the belief that she was soliciting.

The accused was a known family friend of the victim and was reportedly
interested in marrying her. She however married another person. This marriage
later ended in divorce and the accused started contacting her once again. On
her reluctance to marry him, the accused took up the harassment through the
Internet.

The accused is found guilty and convicted for offences under section 469, 509
IPC and 67 of IT Act 2000 . This is considered as the first case convicted under
section 67 of Information Technology Act 2000 in India.
 The verdict extract…

“ The accused is found guilty of offences under section 469, 509 IPC and 67
of IT Act 2000 and the accused is convicted and is sentenced for the offence
to undergo RI for 2 years under 469 IPC and to pay fine of Rs.500/-and for
the offence u/s 509 IPC sentenced to undergo 1 year Simple imprisonment
and to pay fine of Rs.500/- and for the offence u/s 67 of IT Act 2000 to
undergo RI for 2 years and to pay fine of Rs.4000/- All sentences to run
concurrently.”

The accused paid fine amount and he was lodged at Central Prison,
Chennai. This is considered as the first case convicted under section 67 of
Information Technology Act 2000 in India.
 Purpose of IT Act 2000
• To provide legal recognition for transactions
carried out by means of Electronic Data
Interchange (E-Commerce)
• To facilitate Electronic Filing of documents
with Government Agencies (E-Governance)
• To Amend IPC Act, Indian Evidence Act,
Bankers’ Book Evidence Act and RBI Act.
 Features of IT ACT 2000
• All electronic contracts made through secure
electronic channels are legally valid.
• Legal recognition for digital signatures.
• Security measures for electronic records and
also digital signatures are in place
 Features of IT ACT 2000
• A procedure for the appointment of
adjudicating officers for holding inquiries
under the Act is finalized
• Provision for establishing a Cyber Regulatory
Appellant Tribunal under the Act. Further, this
tribunal will handle all appeals made against
the order of the Controller or Adjudicating
Officer.
 Features of IT ACT 2000
• An appeal against the order of the Cyber Appellant
Tribunal is possible only in the High Court
• Digital Signatures will use an asymmetric
cryptosystem and also a hash function
• Provision for the appointment of the Controller of
Certifying Authorities (CCA) to license and regulate
the working of Certifying Authorities. The
Controller to act as a repository of all digital
signatures.
 Features of IT ACT 2000
• The Act applies to offenses or contraventions
committed outside India
• Senior police officers and other officers can
enter any public place and search and arrest
without warrant
• Provisions for the constitution of a Cyber
Regulations Advisory Committee to advise the
Central Government and Controller.