HC not for linking social media accounts with Aadhaar

Data of genuine account holders may ‘unnecessarily’ go to foreign countries, says court

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to pass any order for linking of social media accounts with Aadhaar, PAN or voter ID card, saying it would lead to data of genuine account holders going ‘unnecessarily’ to foreign countries.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar said linking of accounts with social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, with Aadhaar and PAN requires framing of policies or amendment in existing laws by the Central government.

It said this exercise cannot be done by the court.

“The role of courts is to interpret the law as it is. We are not concerned with what the law ought to be,” the High Court said.

Terming the issue a “crucial matter”, the court said it has to be appreciated by the Central government as it “would have far-reaching consequences regarding data of genuine account holders”.

The petition by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay had sought directions to the Centre to take steps for such linking to weed out fake accounts.

Mr. Upadhyay had also alleged in his petition that fake social media accounts are used to propagate “fake and paid news” during elections.

“To weed out 20% fake accounts, all the data, including that of genuine account holders, will go to a foreign country. Majority of account holders are genuine. Therefore, if linkage is ordered by this court, there maybe a situation where data of genuine account holders will also go to foreign country, maybe unnecessarily,” the court said.