Strengthening democracy, reform and safeguarding individual rights like privacy dominated the exchange of ideas at the Second Law and Constitution Dialogue, presented by Legally Speaking, enlightening decision makers, jurists, practitioners of law and students on a wide spectrum of contemporary issues.
While Supreme Court’s Justice Surya Kant cautioned against social media’s dark side of deepfake and cyber bullying, constitutional expert and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi encapsulated the features of the Constitution and the role played by the judiciary in India’s growth as a vibrant democracy.
Other legal luminaries also talked about the challenges before young lawyers and the judgments, like the upholding of Article 370 by the Supreme Court and the Hussainar Khatoon case or the first PIL case, that have shaped the future of India. Women lawyers Nighat Abbass, also a BJP leader, and Jhanvi Sharma talked about the challenges before women lawyers. A penal comprising Next Gen lawyers shared individual experiences and advised aspiring lawyers to be patient and go through the litigation grind to succeed.
Supreme Court’s Justice Surya Kant highlighted social media’s power that has helped it emerge as a robust mechanism in participative democracy where everyone can carve a space for himself. He also pointed to challenges like deepfake and trolling that have grown with the rise of this new media and sought collective steps, including stronger and effective laws, to ensure that the social media remains a “tool of empowerment” and does not become a “weapon of misinformation”.
Justice Kant said we collectively enjoy the power to shape social media and build a resilient digital society. Earlier, welcoming Justice Kant to the event Rajya Sabha MP Kartikeya Sharma said media and law is often accused of running prime-time kangaroo shows but it also is a must in democracy as its fourth pillar. Judges make a great impact with every word but they need a communication medium to explain the changes they have brought about and inform the public.
Justice Kant said the existing laws to deal with problems like deepfake and cyberbullying are inadequate and there is a need for making the report mechanism robust. “These threats can pose a great danger… and can harm the professional and personal lives of victims,” he said.
“Social media is a reflection of us and of our society. It’s up to us to determine whether it becomes a tool for empowerment or a weapon of misinformation,” he said. He said deepfake is also a real problem and a common citizen may not have the sufficient means to defend himself and come out with the true and factual narrative. “The potential for deepfakes is so manipulative and compromises the foundations of truth and trust, which is a matter of grave concern. While deepfakes pose serious societal risks, concerted efforts are needed across technical, regulatory, educational and ethical domains to curb their harms and to ensure that artificial intelligence progresses humanity in the direction of truth and understanding,’ he said.
He said as a community we need to equip people with the ability to critically assess and understand the potential risks posed by deepfakes. “Collective commitment to responsible AI development is equally necessary,” Tech developers and practitioners should adhere to ethical values that prioritise transparency, accountability and the protection of user privacy, he said, adding that we should strive for a digital world that serves as a force.