Hyderabad: In a bid to regulate social media misuse and ensure content adheres to legal, moral, and public order standards, the Telangana State Commission for Women has issued strict directives for responsible content creation and influencing. This move comes in light of a series of disturbing events involving a video of a father-daughter duo that recently surfaced.The Commission emphasized that while freedom of expression is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution, it is subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2). The advent of social media has created a new avenue for information dissemination, necessitating a balance between creative freedom and adherence to public order, decency, morality, and the laws of the land as outlined in Article 19(2).The chairperson Nerella Sharadha has issued the following guidelines:1) Public Order, Basic Decency & Morality should be prioritized by content creators across platforms, as stated in Article 19 (2).2) The content created by any person(s) should not amount to an offence as per existing laws concerning the safety of women. In which case, the commission reserves the right to take strong action will be taken against the offender.3) All creator(s) are expected to be well versed with the ‘reasonable restrictions’ that ‘freedom of expression’ is subject to, as laid down by the Constitution of India & abide by the same.4) No piece of content (irrespective of platform and format) should affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law.5) No piece of content should be defamatory in nature or incite violence of any manner.6) The sanctity of the social and secular fabric of the state should be upheld at all costs.7) Spreading misinformation or unverified conspiracy theories without expressly mentioning the same can make the individual liable for prosecution.8) Outraging the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment of any kind and inciting violence against individuals/communities are criminal offences. Any violation on this front will be confronted with prosecution, irrespective of platform.9) The individual is expected to employ his/her discretion while creating content in order to ensure that the sentiment of no person/group/gender/community/sex, etc are belittled, unless, supported by facts.10) Lastly, as an ‘influencer’, an individual is expected to fulfil the responsibility that comes with the followers and use the ‘influence’ for the right cause.11) As subjective as the definition of ‘comedy’ or ‘dark comedy’ could be, the individual is expected to have an understanding of where to draw the line.
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