RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN RELATION WITH SOCIAL MEDIA IN TODAY’S DIGITAL ERA

AUTHOR – PRAGYA PANDEY, VRUSHTI SHAH & HITANSHI PAREKH,

STUDENTS AT KES’ SHRI JAYANTILAL H. PATEL LAW COLLEGE, MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA.

BEST CITATION – PRAGYA PANDEY, VRUSHTI SHAH & HITANSHI PAREKH, RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN RELATION WITH SOCIAL MEDIA IN TODAY’S DIGITAL ERA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (7) OF 2026, PG. 873-881, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

The right to privacy, though not explicitly mentioned in the Indian Constitution, was unanimously recognized as a fundamental right under Article 21 by the Supreme Court in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India (2017). This paper examines the evolution, constitutional framework, and contemporary relevance of this right in the context of social media and the digital era.

Privacy is a multidimensional concept encompassing bodily integrity, informational autonomy, communication confidentiality, and spatial freedom. It serves not merely as an individual preference but as a structural precondition for human dignity, democratic participation, and the effective exercise of all other fundamental rights. Judicially, the right evolved from early denials in M.P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra (1954) and Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1963), through progressive recognition in Gobind v. State of M.P. (1975) and R. Raja Gopal v. State of Tamil Nadu (1994), culminating in the landmark Puttaswamy judgment.

In the digital era, social media platforms connecting hundreds of millions of Indians operate on business models that harvest and monetize intimate user data. Citizens face mounting threats including mass data breaches, surveillance through programs like the Central Monitoring System, corporate data exploitation, deep fake abuse, and structural gaps in the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 compounded by widespread digital illiteracy.

To address these challenges, the paper recommends expedited implementation of the DPDP Act, enactment of a Surveillance Accountability Act, establishment of an independent Data Protection Board, statutory recognition of the Right to Be Forgotten, mandatory privacy-by-design for platforms, and large-scale digital literacy investment.

Protecting personal data on social media is not merely a regulatory concern it is a constitutional imperative determining whether Indian citizens engage with the digital world as free and dignified individuals or as commodified data points. Keywords: Right to Privacy, Article 21, Puttaswamy Judgment, Social Media, Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, Data Protection, Fundamental Rights, Surveillance, Aadhaar, Digital Era, Informational Privacy, Constitutional Law, India.