Should Whatsapp allow law enforcement agencies to trace the origin of specific messages? And should your social media account be linked to Aadhaar for authentication of identity?

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The Supreme Court today made these observations as it heard pleas by Whatsapp and Facebook to transfer four cases, pending before four different high courts, to the apex court. The court issued notices to the government and social media companies seeking their replies.

Appearing for Facebook, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi made the case for transferring the proceedings to the top court stating that the issue concerns the privacy of individuals and should be looked at by the Supreme Court. This argument found support from senior counsel Kapil Sibal who is representing Whatsapp.

It may be noted that the Madras High Court is also hearing a case filed by a petitioner seeking to link Aadhaar with social media accounts. The apex court has stopped the Madras High Court from issuing any orders in this matter till it hears the case again on September 13.

To discuss this issue, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Alok Prasanna, Senior Resident Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Karuna Nundy, advocate at Supreme Court, NS Nappinai, advocate of Cyber Law, and Antony Rubin, petitioner, Madras High Court.

Rubin said he was a victim of cyber bullying. "You cannot just hide under the ambit of privacy and start bullying people, abuse people and say this is benefiting a particular group of people. I have not got redressal because Facebook decides that it doesn't violate its community standards. I have gone to police twice, I have gone to court and got direction and then I have a PIL going on. Even police have supported my case in saying that there are many cases which have not come about as Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have not responded to them. It is quite a concern," he observed.

Prasanna pointed out that some of the solutions were not placing the accountability on the social media platform but on the user. "I think that is a problem. Solution like linking Aadhaar puts the onus on the user to put their data at risk rather than placing accountability on the social media company. I think the social media companies should be made accountable. I think a good model of this is the law passed by Germany called the Network Enforcement Act which has monetary penalties and a range of other liabilities imposed on social media companies to actually take action when somebody complains of violation of law," he said.

Nappinai said: "What we need is responsible technology and social media. How can that be? Social media has to understand that privacy comes with limitations. Freedom, liberties and democratic constructs don't come in unfettered forms. It is high time that law enforcement agencies and social media platforms figure out mechanisms without impacting every user."

Nundy slammed the plan to link Aadhar to social media. "Linking Aadhaar to social media accounts or to anything else is a terrible idea, it is a terrible invasion of privacy," she said.