In today’s arena, Social media plays very crucial role in connecting with people in all over the world. The need recognizes the importance of social media in day today’s life. The use of social media has become more prominent in the last decade. Social media networks, such as Facebook, allow people around the world to connect with friends, professionals, and strangers in a way that has never been seen before. The introduction of new social sites have changed the way people present information about themselves. There’re people who use social media to promote businesses, rather than just connecting with the people. Because the use of social media is common, it is appropriate to ask if users are waiver certain privacy rights. Users are more willing to trust social media personal details, such as location, without asking what happened to data after networks have been collected by Social media company. Social media offers some privacy measures in this regard. Therefore, the post will focus on how secure it is to share personal information online, the crimes that are taking place, the issues in it, the laws regarding social media privacy in India and specific recommendations regarding the formulation of such laws.

Privacy has been well described “as the condition or the state of being free from public attention to intrusion into or interference with one’s acts or decisions.”[1] In India, however, whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right or not, has always been disputed. In the case of M.P Sharma vs Satish Chandra[2] was held that the right to privacy is not a fundamental right under the constitution. In Kharak Singh vs State of U.P[3] province, it was also held that “privacy was not a guaranteed constitutional right”. However, it was believed that Article 21 (the right to life) is a creation of the remaining human rights and recognizes the common legal right to privacy. However, after the case of Maneka Gandhi the situation has changed completely. Maneka Gandhi and R.C. Cooper’s case went on to say that freedom and liberty do not apply and are nothing but the right to privacy.

Thus, the case had a high rate of judicial activists acting as Marshall in a new era to increase the magnitude of the right to health and personal freedom. Over the course of Supreme court’s jurisprudence on the right to life & personal liberty under Article 21. In order to expand the scope & nature of protection under article 21. The use of dignity principle to configure the right to life with personal liberty under Article 21, going beyond for protection of limbs & faculties the rather the right to life included within scope of “right to live with human dignity”.[4]

Social media is an online form of communication. Many other types of social media such as blogs, small blogs, wikis social networking sites, widgets, visible worlds are also available. But social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Orkut, and Myspace have become more important in the last few years. But in order to use a social networking site and share other people’s posts, one must first create a profile. The main purpose of these social networks is to establish intelligence in the physical world. But few users were unaware that this boon was associated with crime as well.

The concept of cybercrime came up in the mid-1990’s and climbed the ladder of success to a whole new level. But we are the ones who have signed a contract with the Devil and now our privacy is shattered. IP address, keywords used in search, websites visited seemingly harmless, from the information we share on social media, to online transactions, cookies that collect user browser history, mobile subscriptions – personal information about each user’s internet use. The site quickly records our information such as the Amazon.in case[5]

They do it so because, the information they provide, they become more attractive to potential the advertisers. As a result, theft cases, sexual harassment, anonymous reputation, cyber breach and corruption have begun to gain momentum. It is reported that there are scams like koobface, which steal the details of people using Facebook and steal from the wrong people. Version 5 of HTML code is said to give advertising companies access to online users for tasks such as texts, images, emails and much more.

Often, the younger ones are the ones who make the most of  it. Nowadays, they do not hesitate to share their personal information with strangers. This is due to a lack of mental maturity, lack of awareness about personal data credentials and ability to make right and wrong judgments. As a result, sex offenders and identity thieves could easily be hunted down.

Twitter itself  has admitted that they had previously taken pictures of their users and logged into their website database to learn more about their users. Facebook’s oxymoronic status is evident when it first states that it contains all the content we post to Facebook and on the other hand states that we users allow Facebook to use any IP content we post about Facebook. People have also been reported to have committed suicide.[6] after their embarrassing videos were posted on YouTube. This failure of social media and daily crime has forced us to think seriously about what we really want to share and how our information is treated. Therefore, privacy policies must be carefully read before granting our consent. However, Facebook & Instagram has helped by introducing blocking, reporting, protection etc. options. Twitter has the option to share information only with followers, For securing the right of users.

In the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) Vs Union of India[7] The right to privacy recognized as a fundamental right in Article 21 of the constitution. To do this is a meaningful right, it is the duty of the state to keep the data, protective framework that while protecting citizens from the dangers they go to confidentiality of information from state and non-state actors, serves the common good. It is the understanding of the provincial function that the Committee must work while creating a data protection framework.

Violations of privacy in India is increasing at an alarming rate. And the privacy of 130 crores Indians at risk. Cyber crime can not be constrained by geographical location & the crimes can not be deterred by local law. government needs to come with some well drafted legislation on digital security which is on social media.  So, the right to privacy of every citizen can be secured by the state. This is high time for India to prioritize privacy and see as most important aspect of security concern. With the advent of social media, the new Internet privacy term has come to light. There is no specific law for Internet privacy and data protection. However, our constitution provided Article 21 as a key to insufficient privacy to provide adequate data protection. However, in the year 2000, the legislature made an effort to recognize the privacy issues of the social media and currently India’s most comprehensive legal provisions for privacy on the Internet is the Information Technology Act, 2000. Provisions that specifically protect users’ privacy include Sections 43, 66, 66F and 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules of the Act.