"True information gets buried in spread of fake news": CJI

Chief Justice (CJI) of India D.Y. Chandrachud has said that true information gets suppressed by the spread of fake news and misinformation has the power to weaken democratic discussion.

Delivering the 14th Justice VM Tarkunde Memorial Lecture on “Sustaining Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Privacy, Surveillance and Free Expression”, the CJI said that fake news aims to destroy the fundamental elements of society i.e. the stability of truth.

The CJI said, “Depending on the scale of circulation, fake news drowns out true information, causing the character of discourse to be drowned out by the loudest voice in place of truth.”

“Therefore, disinformation has the power to forever distort democratic debate, pushing the marketplace of free ideas to collapse under the weight of fake stories,” he said.

The CJI said that every day a cursory glance at the newspaper shows incidents of communal and moral violence instigated by fake rumors and targeted propaganda campaigns. The CJI said that across the world – be it Libya, Philippines, Germany or America – elections and civil society have been tainted by the spread of fake news.

He said, “I remember when the country was facing the tragic COVID-19 pandemic, the internet was filled with fake news and rumors--a source of comic relief in difficult times, but it also gave us a platform to express ourselves on the internet. It was also forcing us to reconsider the limits of freedom.”

The CJI said that privacy in the digital age is not just a matter of data security, but it is a fundamental right, which “we must actively support”.