New Delhi, April 28 : The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea seeking directions to the government to take immediate and decisive action to regulate explicit content on social media and OTT platforms.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih issued a notice to the Centre, observing that the petition raised an issue of “important concern” with regard to the display of objectionable, obscene and indecent contents on social media and OTT platforms.

Apart from the Union government, notices were issued to Netflix, Amazon, Ullu, ALTT, MUBI, Google, X Corp (formerly Twitter), Apple and Meta.

The Justice Gavai-led Bench suggested that the Centre take more legislative actions to check the unabated circulation of obscene content on social media and OTT platforms.

In response, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second highest law officer of the Union government, said that some regulations are already in place and more are under contemplation.

Issuing notice, the apex court decided to tag the plea with similar pending petitions.

The public interest litigation (PIL) said the unabated circulation of obscene, sexually deviant/perverted, pedophilic, bestiality content, including child pornography and soft-core adult content, has contributed to a rising trend of crimes against women and children while negatively shaping the psychological development of young minds.

“If left unchecked, this unregulated spread of obscene material could have severe consequences on societal values, mental health and public safety,” said the plea filed through advocate Path Yadav.

The petition pointed out that the petitioners had sent several representations/complaints before the authorities, but have not yielded any effective result.

It claimed that the government, despite being fully aware of the gravity of this situation, has failed to take any significant steps to regulate this menace. “The lack of effective oversight has allowed these platforms to promote content that fosters unhealthy and perverse tendencies, particularly among impressionable youth. This uncontrolled exposure to explicit material has serious consequences. The constant consumption of such content alters perceptions of sexuality, fuels deviant behaviours and contributes to rising incidents of sexual offences against women and children,” added the petition.