Govt bats for Aadhaar link to Facebook users

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that linking individual profiles on social media platforms with Aadhaar or any verifiable government document will serve the interest of crime detection and preventing anti-social elements from spreading hatred.

The submission came on a petition filed by Facebook Inc which sought transfer of petitions pending against the company from three high courts to the Supreme Court.

The social media company, which also owns WhatsApp, had claimed that similar petitions in all high courts demanded linking of Aadhaar with social media accounts for better crime detection.

In the Madras High Court, the Tamil Nadu government had supported the petition claiming that such a move will facilitate crime detection and prevent people from creating fake profiles to threaten, troll or spread fake news aimed at disturbing law and order.

On Monday, Attorney General KK Venugopal appeared before the bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose and demanded that the case pending before the Madras High Court was nearing completion and the same should not be transferred to the apex court.

Venugopal said the social media platforms do not require its users to submit any verification. He said there are instances of persons opening multiple accounts which are then used by anti-social elements to spread crime.

The comments of A-G assume significance in the light of the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir where the Centre has re-imposed restrictions on internet and communications links following instances of stone-pelting and peddling of fake news on social media. The place has witnessed a lockdown since Article 370 stood abrogated and J&K was divided into two Union Territories.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Facebook, submitted there was no purpose of allowing separate High Courts to hear a common issue. According to him, the petitions were pending at Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh High Courts.

He requested the court to admit the transfer petition and decide the validity of linking Aadhaar with individual user profiles on Facebook, WhatsApp, Google and Twitter.

Rohatgi contended that even if this was to be rolled out, its implementation was not possible as messages shared on these platforms are encrypted end-to-end.

Although basic subscriber information is always shared with law enforcement agencies, as and when request is made, Rohatgi added that the content of messages cannot be known even by the company.

As this involved interpretation of law on privacy and Information Technology Act, he felt the apex court was best suited to deal with the issue.