New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the government of India to ascertain the feasibility of linking Aadhaar with social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and web news portals, in order to curb fake news.

The petition filed by advocate and Delhi BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay claimed that currently 35 million Twitter handles and 325 million Facebook accounts were operational in the country, and according to social media experts, 10 per cent of each were fake.

"There are hundreds of fake Twitter handles and bogus Facebook accounts in the name of eminent people and high dignitaries. These fake Twitter handles and bogus Facebook accounts use real photos of constitutional authorities. Therefore, the common man relies upon the messages published on them," read the petition.

It also claimed that fake social media accounts were the root cause for many riots and communal tensions which endangered the peace and harmony of the country.

"It is necessary that the political parties and the contesting candidates do not use these fake twitter handles and bogus Facebook accounts for self-promotion and image building. They should also not use them to tarnish the image of their opponents, especially during the elections," the petition said.

It also said the Supreme Court should direct the Union government to take appropriate steps to deactivate bogus social media accounts.​