The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking removal/blocking of social media posts which incite "anti-government" and "anti-judiciary" sentiments.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the order. "Don't give so much importance to these people (who are publishing such social media posts)", CJI conveyed to the petitioner's counsel. The judge added that the petitioner may pursue the concerned authorities.

The petition was moved by a social worker aggrieved by the circulation of "anti-national slogans and speeches/statements" on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc. It stated that "the security threats caused by unruly mobs across the country under the banner of the so-called "CJP", coupled with the circulation of fake messages through SMS and various social media platforms, resulted in the National Capital and and the Capitals of several states being held hostage".

The petitioner claimed that despite a spread of "anti-government and anti-judicial sentiments" through motivated statements, the social media intermediaries failed to take action under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the relevant rules. He had impleaded the Union (through MeitY and Ministry of Home Affairs), the Delhi Government, Google LLC (YouTube), Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook/Instagram), X Corp. and WhatsApp Application Services for appropriate directions.

Among other things, directions were sought against the circulation of unlawful digital material, including memes, manipulated content and abusive posts, which intentionally insult, vilify, and promote hatred against Hindu religious beliefs, Sanatana Dharma and revered Hindu deities.

The petitioner averred that in recent years, public demonstrations have been fraught with slogans, statements and speeches which cross the limits of free speech and insult the sentiments of a particular community. He highlighted that such content is also uploaded on social media, leading to widespread dissemination and enhancing the odds of communal disharmony.

As an example, the petition highlighted the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's selfie video from Facebook, which was uploaded during the student protests concerning NEET paper leaks. The petitioner underlined that Meta later attributed the removal of the video to an "error" and apologized for it. However, the issue goes beyond an apology and shows that social media intermediaries are not following the rules.

"The uninformed mob by indulging into attack of judiciary, executive, other constitutional institution as well as to insult any religion by using social media platforms has no protection under Article 19(i)(a) read with Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India", the plea said.

It further pointed out that in Ranveer Allahabadia's case, pertaining to the India's Got Latent controversy, the Court had called on the Union to come up with a regulatory proposal for online content. The petitioner prayed that until an effective framework is put in place, the Court may issue guidelines to prevent social media attacks on institutions by uninformed members of a mob.

The petition was drawn by Advocate Barun Kumar Sinha and filed through AoR Anantha Narayana MG.

Case: Hitendra Kumar Parsottambhai Gadhiya v. Union of India, Diary Number 49072/2026