‘Political satire versus State: What content will survive the internet?’ discussed by panel comprising lawyer, independent journalist and political satirist at FoE Con

Who defines national security and public order? What is the threshold for criticism of the government? Can hate speech be episodic or is it always systemic? What is the threshold of 'hate speech'? Panellists ponder as misgivings multiply.

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THE definition and threshold of hate speech is rapidly changing in India. On one hand, a certain notion of 'badtameezi' (misbehaviour) is used to lower the threshold of hate speech vis-a-vis what can be said against the government, people in power, and powerful people; and on the other hand, certain groups and individuals are provided impunity to make aggressive and hateful statements against minorities, said Supreme Court advocate Shahrukh Alam during the second edition of FoE Con on Saturday co-organised by the non-governmental organisation Internet Freedom Foundation and media watchdog NewsLaundry.

Badtameezi and gustakhi maaf

Alam was voicing her views during the panel discussion titled 'Ctrl+Alt+Delete: How the law assists in taking down digital news stories' on what is considered fair use in the context of legal news-based content.  

She added: "…[M]ore and more, law is mirroring the hierarchy in our social culture… Most prosecutions, in my opinion, happen when you challenge established social and political power or ideas that they support."

The session was moderated by NewsLaundry founder and Chief Executive Officer Abhinandan Sekhri and had Sakshi Joshi, an independent YouTube journalist, and Akash Banerjee, founder and host of political and social satire platform The DeshBhakt, as the other panellists.