CYBER CRIME WAVE: THE LEGAL CHALLENGES OF POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA

Written By Aishwarya Agnihotri

Reviewed By Admin | The Legal Gazette

Published By Khushi Verma

INTRODUCTION 

Social media platforms are widely accessible in the modern world, radically altering how people communicate and share information. These platforms enable users to connect easily across regional borders by facilitating instantaneous and global interactions. But social media's widespread use and accessibility have also made these platforms open to abuse by online criminals. Unprecedented levels of information interchange have resulted from the spread of social media, but this has also opened up chances for different types of cybercrime. There are many instances of identity theft, phishing, and malware distribution. Cybercriminals make use of the private information that users disclose, frequently using intricate plans to trick and con people. Cybercrime can be defined as an illegal way of using any device of communication to commit or facilitate the committing of an illegal act. 

Social media platforms have made it easier and faster for people to connect, which has made people's lives simpler. The younger generation finds these platforms especially intriguing because they encourage individuals to post, remark, and engage with strangers to obtain followers. Social media account management's anonymity adds significantly to its potential for abuse. For example, in 2016, almost three billion Yahoo accounts were stolen, leading to a significant breach of personal information from a well-known network at the time.

NATURE AND FORMS OF CYBERCRIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media cybercrimes can take many different forms, and each one has serious repercussions for both the victim and society as a whole. These crimes take advantage of social media platforms' built-in weaknesses, taking advantage of users' massive sharing of personal information and the frequently inadequate security mechanisms in place.

1. Identity theft-

   While registering on social networking networks, users are required to submit personal information. Once gathered, this information may be exploited by cybercriminals, who might use it for identity theft, impersonation, and other security lapses and breaches that can also occur.

2. Malware-

   People tend to share a lot of posts on their social media handles and try to connect with unknown users as well. these platforms surface advertisements links, attachments links, or other infected apps links and through these links, the user’s activities can be traced and tracked and theft of sensitive data can take place.

3. Financial Scams- 

   These platforms can easily be used to post luring schemes and engage audiences under the promise of easy money through schemes like- Pyramid, Ponzi, or investment fraud, and eventually, it can cause people to lose their hard-earned money to these scams.

4. Phishing attacks-

   The users can be tricked by cybercriminals by disguising malicious links as legitimate messages and then compromising their devices and stealing information through these phishing attacks. 

5. Cyberbullying and harassment-

   It is abundantly clear that a considerable amount of offensive or menacing messages and comments are posted to harass victims; this phenomenon was found to intensify dramatically during lockdown times.

LAWS AGAINST CYBERCRIMES IN INDIA

The Information Technology Act, 2000 governs cybercrime and provides for definitions, and penalties related to cybercrimes. Further, it provides for the establishment of a Cyber Appellate Tribunal and also for data protection or personal data. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) also defines cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property under Section 420, forgery under Section 468, and defamation under Section 500. In this way, law enforcement agencies can catch hold of the fraudsters and prosecute the forms of cybercrime.

LEGAL HURDLES

The main legal issue in cybercrime legislation and policy is striking a balance between security and free speech. The basic right to free speech and expression is guaranteed by Article 19 of the Indian Constitution. Regulations that limit this right could have unintended legal consequences. Two ladies were detained under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the matter of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India because they had posted comments on Facebook about the passing of a political leader. In the end, the Supreme Court declared Section 66A to be unconstitutional due to the excessive limitations it placed on free speech.  Other legal hurdles involved revolve around privacy protection issues as a lot of data is being collected by the social media handles and when such data is not protected well enough, it leads to misuse, identity theft, and privacy breaches. The recent use of AI technology has made it even more difficult to trace the information and the cybercriminal and it makes challenging for the regulatory agencies. The devoid of legal frameworks with the rapidly growing technological advancements especially for Artificial Intelligence creates gaps in providing protection. It's critical to establish precise guidelines for the use of surveillance technology and make sure that they adhere to the concepts of proportionality and justice. These safeguards must be weighed against the defence of people's honor, privacy, and security in the face of the spread of dangerous content, online abuse, and fake news. Regulation should be developed to take for the defence of intellectual property rights in this digital era and be included under Constitutional law. Protection for copyrights, patents, trademarks, and others need to be included under Constitution protection also. Moreover, the task of regulating cybercrime is compounded by the deliberate adoption of anonymous and often deceptive identities by cyber criminals. Law enforcement agencies face significant hurdles in tracing the origins of cyberattacks or illegal activities, as perpetrators can mask their true identities through various means. End-to-end encryption another significant obstacle to the control of cybercrime is a technology intended to safeguard communications by guaranteeing that only the sender and receiver may view the messages. Encryption is crucial for safeguarding private data and preventing unwanted access, but it also presents challenges for law enforcement.

CONCLUSION

In today’s time, social media platforms are on the rise and almost everyone shares their accounts on these platforms. The rise of these platforms has a direct impact on the increase of cybercrime facilitated by them and it can come in various forms such as information theft, malicious links being shared, or cyberbullying or harassment. Therefore, it becomes important to have laws enforced against these forms of cybercrime but eventually presence of certain legal hurdles related to free speech, anonymity, or even privacy concerns hinder the effective regulation and policing of these digital spaces. 

CITATIONS

1-CyberTalents (no date) What is cyber crime? types, examples, and prevention, CyberTalents Blog. Available at: https://cybertalents.com/blog/what-is-cyber-crime-types-examples-and-prevention (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

2- Swati and Vikash (2020) Cyber crime analysis on social media, BSSS Publications. Available at: https://bssspublications.com/PublishedPaper/Publish_258.pdf (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

3- Kapoor, S. (2024) How has social media contributed to the spread of Cybercrimes : An Analysis, iPleaders. Available at: https://blog.ipleaders.in/how-has-social-media-contributed-to-the-spread-of-cybercrimes-an-analysis/#:~:text=Phishing%20attacks%3A,numbers%2C%20or%20other%20sensitive%20information (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

4- Ibid

5-Information Technology Act, 2000

6-Indian Penal Code, 1960

7- Kapoor, S. (2024) How has social media contributed to the spread of Cybercrimes : An Analysis, iPleaders. Available at: https://blog.ipleaders.in/how-has-social-media-contributed-to-the-spread-of-cybercrimes-an-analysis/#:~:text=Phishing%20attacks%3A,numbers%2C%20or%20other%20sensitive%20information (Accessed: 05 July 2024).

8-Rivaldi, Aji and Mia (2023) Legal Challenges in the Age of Social Media Protecting Citizens from misuse of information, Research Gate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378145944_Legal_Challenges_In_The_Age_Of_Social_Media_Protecting_Citizens_From_Misuse_Of_Information (Accessed: 05 July 2024). 

9-Rivaldi, Aji and Mia (2023) Legal Challenges in the Age of Social Media Protecting Citizens from misuse of information, Research Gate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378145944_Legal_Challenges_In_The_Age_Of_Social_Media_Protecting_Citizens_From_Misuse_Of_Information (Accessed: 05 July 2024).