Observing that technology has taken a "dangerous turn" and it hardly takes five minutes to purchase an AK-47 rifle on the 'dark web', the Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Centre must step in and inform it within 3 weeks the time-frame needed for framing guidelines to curb misuse of social media.
At one stage during the hearing on a petition by popular social media platform Facebook, Justice Deepak Gupta, who was part of a two-judge bench, said the way things are going on he was even thinking of giving up his smart phone and go back to older ways.
The apex court said tracing the originator of a message or content on social media platforms is a "very serious issue" as it also involves terrorism, pornography, paedophilia, fake news and trolling.
Expressing serious concern over some social media platforms not being able to trace the originator of messages, the bench, which also included Aniruddha Bose, said the Centre must step in now.
"It's a worldwide issue but it needs a answer. We are as much concerned as you are. It raises very serious issues as it involves national security, trolling, terrorism, fake news, pornography, paedophilia."