New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government told the Supreme Court today that it is withdrawing the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s proposal to create a ‘Social Media Communication Hub’. Petitioners had alleged before the court that this kind of hub could become a tool to monitor citizens’ online activities.After Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that the Centre was no longer considering the idea, the court disposed off the petitions challenging the proposal.Just weeks ago, while hearing a petition filed against the proposal by Trinamool Congress legislator Mohua Moitra, the bench of CJI Misra and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.M. Khanwilkar said that this kind of social media hub would be akin to ‘creating a surveillance state’. “The government wants to tap citizens’ WhatsApp messages. It will be like creating a surveillance state,” the court had said.The plan for the Social Media Communication Hub was that the government would employ mediapersons on a contractual basis to be the “eyes and ears” of the government. They would upload their observations onto a technology platform. According to the tender issued by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited for the proposal, “A technology platform is needed to collect digital media chatter from all core social media platforms as well as digital platforms such as news, blogs… In a single system providing real-time insights, metrics and other valuable data.”The ministry had claimed that this kind of platform would help keep the government informed about what citizens are saying about its schemes and programmes.Moitra had argued in her petition that this kind of platform would be a violation of people’s fundamental right to privacy.