Digital Delinquency

The prime mover behind the communal tensions that flared in Nagpur was the unchecked spread of misinformation across social media. A viral video depicting the burning of an effigy wrapped in a green cloth led to baseless claims of the Quran being burned, which in turn triggered outrage, protest and bloodshed. With over 130,000 posts under hashtags like #NagpurViolence in a matter of hours, platforms such as X, Instagram and WhatsApp became both accelerants and battlefields within moments. The incident, which left over 30 people including policemen wounded, and saw widespread arson and vandalism, should serve as a wake-up call for the Supreme Court to act decisively in regulating social media.

The Indian government has long been aware of social media’s role in stoking unrest. From the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots to the 2023 communal clashes in Kolhapur over WhatsApp messages glorifying Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan, digital misinformation has repeatedly played a lethal role. In the latest episode in Nagpur, police quickly flagged over 100 social media accounts that had spread incendiary content. Some were found to be sharing old or altered videos to provoke further violence.

This digital delinquency is not just an Indian problem. Social media has been complicit in Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis, Brazil’s political riots, and America’s Capitol insurrection. The challenge, then, is not just curbing individual incidents but developing a regulatory framework that prevents such escalations in the first place. The Supreme Court, which recently urged the government to establish guidelines for regulating social media content, must seize this moment to push through decisive reforms.

The Nagpur riots should serve as a case study in the dangers of algorithmic negligence. Platforms profit from virality, with outrage-inducing content receiving disproportionate engagement. While law enforcement scrambles to track IP addresses, WhatsApp forwards protected by end-to-end encryption pose a tougher challenge. Social media firms, eager to expand their user bases in India, have little incentive to police content unless forced to do so.

This is where the Supreme Court must step in. It should press the government for clear, enforceable regulations. Mandatory content moderation teams based in India, stricter penalties for platforms failing to curb misinformation, and real-time cooperation between social media giants and law enforcement could be starting points. One avenue is to empower India’s cybersecurity agencies with greater autonomy to act against fake news before it snowballs into violence. If left unchecked, digital disinformation will continue to stoke communal flashpoints. Nagpur’s turmoil, like similar incidents before it, underscores the urgency of action.

Nations like Germany, where platforms are required to remove hate speech within 24 hours or face steep fines, offer a model for balancing free expression with public safety. India must follow suit. The government has urged social media platforms to swiftly remove inflammatory content. The need of the hour is a comprehensive policy that holds both platforms and individuals accountable for spreading falsehoods and dousing digital wildfires.