THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF ONLINE SPEECH IN INDIA: FROM FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION TO PLATFORM GOVERNANCE

The right to freedom of speech and expression is one of the essential pillar’s of democracy. It is enshrined under article 19(1)(a) of the Indian constitution. But this right is not absolute in nature is has reasonable restriction on it under article 19(2) of the Indian constitution. This right gives us the right to convey our ideas, beliefs, information in the society, but the digital age and modernization has enhanced the scope of right to freedom of speech and expression. The advent of technology and digital platforms has brought several complex issues that put this right to freedom and expression to the test. The issues like spread of fake and misinformation hate speech, deep fakes, government control over digital content. The role of digital platform and internet service providers has raised a critical issue about the regulation and protection of freedom of speech in the digital world. This has raised a question of law and ethics about, “how that delicate balance has to maintain while protecting freedom of expression while preventing the potential harm in the digital world. This paper will discuss the concept of freedom of speech and expression in digital age with reference to constitutional framework and evolution of online speech. It also examines the legal and policy challenges associated with regulation of digital speech in India. It also explores the implication of the growing role of private tech platforms such as face book; twitter etc. in the content and speech moderation, about the transparency and due process. This paper also gives a comparative analysis of regulation social media speech between India, US and European Union. The research basically highlight the conflicts between digital platform and state regulation, the need for a comprehensive legal framework that safeguards our fundamental right to speech and expression while addressing the risk of unregulated online communication. The role of private platforms in governing the online speech and the legal framework of India in regulating online speech and various judicial decisions. In the era of rapid digitization, which enhanced the scope of this freedom of speech one should maintain a delicate balance while protecting the freedom of speech and expression, that is should not lead to potential harms.