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There is no doubt that the digital revolution has fundamentally transformed the contours of free expression globally. However, the concerns revolving around proliferation of obscene, offensive or harmful material, particularly in User Based Content generation environment requires a careful navigation, while striking a fragile balance between Article 19(1)(a) and Public Morality. The fact that online social media platforms blur the boundaries between private speech and public broadcast, enabling the dissemination of content at an unprecedented speed, raises a regulatory challenge. The collision between free speech and online virality thus lies at the heart of the present issue, that harmful content must be suppressed, while meaningful expression must also be protected from becoming collateral damage in the quest for morality in the present user-based environment.

The concept of obscenity is inherently context-dependent and culture-specific, varying from one fraction of society to another and evolving with changing social norms. As moral standards are subjective, defining obscenity with precision remains a daunting task. The prevalent test of obscenity in prasenti in India is the contemporary community standard test.

The lacuna of having a specific definition for obscenity has led to varied interpretations and has raised a question of what constitutes obscenity in Legal context. The Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the year 1965 has observed that, the world, is now able to tolerate much more than formerly, having become indurated by literature of different sorts. The attitude is not yet settled, the Penal Code does not define the word ‘obscene’ and this delicate task of how to distinguish between that which is artistic and that which is obscene has to be performed by courts.