By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Social media platform Facebook has informed the Delhi High Court that the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution cannot be asserted against it because it is a private party.
The company, now known as Meta Platforms, submitted an affidavit in response to a petition by a political satire handle named Wokeflix which was suspended by Instagram, another social media platform owned by Meta.Twitter had also disabled the account when the user posted about the account getting suspended on Instagram.
“When was the last time a left wing, anti govt, anti Hindu, anti Moth, #Hinduphobic account was banned @InstagramComms ? The vile abuse and hatred being spread by the above is at all time high and you have a problem with this… #wokeflix #wokeflixanfchill#WokeFlixReloaded,” said the user in their tweet.
Filed through advocate Tejas Karia, Meta in its affidavit said that users enter into an agreement with the company when they sign up to use its services. Therefore, the relationship between the users and its platform arises out of a private contract, in the form of Meta’s terms of service.
“Meta does not perform an inalienable sovereign function and does not exclusively perform a function of public importance as a monopoly in its field,” said Meta in an affidavit. It said Meta is a private party, and Instagram users in India enter into an agreement with Meta when they register to use the Instagram service.
“The Instagram service is a free and voluntary platform, and the petitioner has no fundamental right to use it… Accordingly, the petitioner’s attempt to assert Article 19 rights against Meta, a private entity, is improper, contrary to law, and ought to be denied,” said the affidavit. The company also cited a judgment of the Supreme Court to substantiate its argument that Article 19 cannot be asserted against private parties.
Freedom qualifiedIt said the language and structure of Art 19 and its setting in Part III of the Constitution shows it was meant to protect against State action.
