Truth has become victim in age of false news: CJI Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Friday said truth has become a “victim” in the age of false news and with the spread of social media, something which is said as a seed germinates into virtually a whole theory that can never be tested on the anvil of rational science.
The CJI said today we live in an age where people are short on their patience and tolerance because they are not willing to accept perspectives which are different from their own.
Justice Chandrachud was speaking at the American Bar Association India Conference 2023 here on the theme “Law in the age of Globalisation: Convergence of India and the West”. CJI spoke about a range of issues, including technology and its use by the judiciary, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, issues confronting the judicial profession and on having more women judges.
“Truth has become the victim in an age of false news. With the spread of social media, something which is said as a seed germinates into virtually a whole theory which can never be tested on the anvil of rational science,” he said.
Justice Chandrachud said in many ways, the Indian Constitution is a prime example of globalisation even before we ventured into the age of globalisation.
He said when the Constitution was drafted, its makers had possibly no idea of the lines along which humanity would evolve.
“We did not possess notions of privacy, there was no internet. We did not live in a world which was controlled by algorithms. We certainly did not have a social media,” he said.
“For every little thing that we do, and believe me, as judges we are no exception to this, for everything that you do, you face the threat of being trolled by someone who does not share your point of view,” the CJI said. He said just as humanity has expanded with the global advent of travel and technology, humanity also has retreated within by not willing to accept anything that people, as individuals, believe in.
“And I believe that is the challenge of our age. Some of this is perhaps the product of technology itself,” he said, while also dwelling on the positives of technology.