News Analysis India

Tag: social media

  • ‘Don’t lecture India on freedom of speech, democracy’: Ravi Shankar Prasad to social media firms

    By PTI
    PUNE: Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday asked social media platforms to not lecture India on “freedom of speech” and “democracy”, and asserted that if these “profit-making” firms want to earn money in India, they will have to follow the “Indian Constitution and Indian laws”.

    Addressing a lecture on the topic ‘Social Media & Social Security’ and ‘Criminal Justice System Reforms: An Unfinished Agenda’ organized by Symbiosis International University as part of the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series, the minister said the new IT guidelines do not deal with the use of social media, but with the “abuse” and “misuse” of social media platforms.

    The new IT rules, which were originally announced in February, give users of the platform a forum for redressal for their grievances, Prasad said, adding that they are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making likes of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing of details on the originators of messages.

    ALSO READ | Rule of land is supreme, not your policy, Twitter told by Parliamentary panel on IT

    “The new rules require social media companies to set up an India-based grievance redressal officer, compliance officer, and the nodal officer so that millions of social media users get a forum for grievance redressal,” Prasad said, adding that no one was “asking for the moon” by getting firms to appoint three officers based in the country for this purpose.

    “These are basic requirements. Let me reiterate emphatically that India does not need a lecture on freedom of speech and democracy from a profit-making company that stays in America. India has free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, media, civil society. Here I am talking to students and taking questions, and this is true democracy. So these profit-making companies should not lecture us on democracy,” he said.

    “When Indian companies go to do business in America, do they not follow American laws? You earn good money, good profits as India is a digital market, there is no problem. Criticize the prime minister, criticize me, ask tough questions, but why would you not obey Indian laws? If you want to do business in India, you have to follow India’s Constitution and India’s laws,” the minister, who also holds the law and justice portfolio, emphasised.

    Prasad said these firms got three months to comply with the new IT rules, the period expiring on May 26.

    “I said I will give them extra time by a way of goodwill gesture. They did not comply. Therefore, it was exhausted because of the consequences of the law and not because of me. Now, what will happen? They will have to respond to court proceedings, investigative proceedings,” Prasad said.

    The Central government recently withdrew Twitter’s ‘intermediary platform’ status due to non-compliance with new IT rules.

  • Bihar police orders cops to not use phone, engage in social media while on duty

    By Express News Service
    PATNA: After reports of some cops being engrossed over phone with social media while on duty, the Bihar police headquarters on Tuesday passed an order that no police personnel on duty can use mobiles to be engaged with social media with immediate effect in Bihar.

    The use of mobiles and other electronic devices on duty by the police personnel not only blurs the image of police but also diminishes efficiency among the cops.

    The letter, carrying order to all the SSPs,the SPs and other seniors officers, clearly stated that the police officers are assigned with the task of ensuring safety to VIP, on duty to maintain law and order, the traffic management and other important points.

    On such duties, the police officers have to remain high alert but when they engage themselves with mobiles and social media platforms, their attention is diverted from duty.

    “Some instances of such incidents have been reported where cops were found unnecessarily busy with their mobiles on duty,” the letter of order stated.

    The police headquarters has directed not to use the mobiles, other electronic devices and be on social media on duty except in some exceptional or special cases.

    Jitendra Kumar, ADGP, HQ, confirmed the issuance of such order to stop the use of mobiles and other electronic devices.

  • Congress alleges new rules aimed at stifling, terrorising social media; asks government to shed ‘Big Daddy approach’

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Congress on Wednesday said the new intermediary rules for social media issued by the government are “dire, drastic and draconian” in nature and aimed at creating a “social media police”. “The issuance of new guidelines shows that the BJP government is suffering from the ‘Big Daddy’ syndrome. The rules are a severe blow to the vibrant culture of discourse, deliberation and dissent in India,” the party said. 

    Terming it the Modi government’s “North Korean approach” to free speech, senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said what is being brought into force from Wednesday is yet another attempt by the Centre to capture and subordinate every pillar and agency of freedom of thought and expression.

    “Having successfully done so in respect of constitutional and statutory bodies like CBI, ED, EC and several others, along with subjugation of the ‘Godi Media’, Modi Ji has now turned his attention to social media to annihilate all vestiges of free speech, thought and expression. Dictatorial regimes, including the North Korean one, would blush at the brazenness with which the Modi government has done so. The Moid-led NDA government’s pathshala should be the new go-to place for all dictators to hone their skills in controlling free speech and thought,” he said.

    He, however, said the Congress has not taken a policy decision yet on whether to move court against the new rules. Singhvi added that in the new Orwellian definition of the Modi government, all voices against the PM or the HM, criticism of Covid-19 management and any questioning of the ruling party attract registration of sedition case.  

    Patra fails to appear before cops againBJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Wednesday yet again skipped his appearance before the Chhattisgarh Police in the ‘toolkit’ case. The police had summoned him with the second notice asking him to appear on May 26 for questioning in the case 

  • BJP’s souring social media affinity

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  From using social media reach as a marker of a leader’s potential to winning an election to vociferously opposing such platforms, BJP’s viewpoint seems to have undergone a sea change in recent times. With controversies raging over Congress’ alleged toolkit and the subsequent tagging of a tweet by Sambit Patra as ‘manipulated media’, the BJP was quick to lap up on Tuesday a short video of France President Emmanuel Macron making a case against social media platforms undermining democracies. 

    The growing noise within the party is that social media platforms are biased against the party’s ideology. Party leaders have accused the platforms of protecting competing ideologies, while applying restrictive tools against the views expressed by the followers and functionaries of the BJP. 

    Its argument that social media is more accommodating of competing ideologies stands in contrast to the first five years of the NDA when PM Modi used it for image and brand building, while Amit Shah had gone to the extent of sizing up party’s potential candidates in elections on the basis of their social media profiles and the sizes of their followers.

    A senior BJP functionary sums up the change in perception by saying, “Social media platforms have proved to be double edged weapon. They are useful to build an image. But they’re also lethal in that they fuel criticism.” 

    This criticism is again in contrast to the time when Union ministers used to hire social media teams to project their achievements to a larger audience. Now, the same leaders claim that the platforms fanned protests against the Centre by building narratives on reforms and key initiatives like farm laws and CAA.

    Profile used as marker of standing It is widely believed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah used to size up the standing of a party’s potential candidates for elections by assessing their social media profiles and the size of their followers

  • Twitter To Introduce Ticketing For Audio “Spaces” Feature

    Twitter Inc said on Monday it will introduce a new feature to let users charge admission to their live audio chat rooms in its “Spaces” feature, as the social media company seeks to court more content creators.

    Until now, only some users who were part of Twitter’s pilot testing were able to host their own Space. Starting on Monday, any user with at least 600 followers can be a host, the company added.

    Twitter introduced Spaces last year to compete with viral app Clubhouse, which jump-started the audio chat trend and attracted celebrities and entrepreneurs, but remains limited as an invite-only app.

    Over the coming months, Twitter said a limited group of users will be able to sell tickets to access their Spaces conversations, and will determine their own pricing and how many tickets to make available. Hosts will keep the majority of the revenue, while Twitter will earn a “small amount,” the company added.

    The move is part of Twitter’s effort to be a bigger player in the “creator economy,” as influencers and independent writers are increasingly earning money from their content on platforms like YouTube or Substack.

  • Karimul Haque, who was hugged by PM Modi at the airport, know what he said about Mamata Banerjee?

    PM Modi, who arrived in Bengal on Saturday to campaign for the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, embraced him socially and Padma Award winner Karimul Haque with aplomb as soon as he saw him. Please tell that its photo is becoming fiercely viral on social media. Significantly, Karimul Haque is also known as ‘Bike Ambulance Dada’. In fact, PM Modi landed at Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal on Saturday for the election meeting. Karimul Haque was already there. On seeing him, PM Modi embraced him. There is a lot of praise on social media about this. People say that honoring Karimul Haque’s social service comes well to PM Modi. Please tell that Karimul Haq works in the Jalpaiguri district to transport patients by his motorcycle to the hospital. He has also been awarded the Padma Award for this unique way.

    On this, when an attempt was made to know from Karimul Haq by a news website NBT that Mamta Banerjee would not be angry with him. After this, what Karimul said will be nothing short of a shock for Mamta. Actually, while answering this question, Karimul Haque said that there is such a difference between Narendra Modi and Mamta Banerjee that when he went to meet Didi, he was ‘abused’. Karimul Haque said that PM Modi runs the country and Mamata Banerjee runs Bengal. When PM Modi called me to meet, I went and met him, he hugged me, it was a matter of difference for me. Who meets a poor man like me? If I went to meet the PM, what would I ask for my state, then I would ask for something. He said that if I ask for anything, I will demand for the country to make AIIMS in Bengal. With this Karimul Haque said that if I went to meet Mamta Banerjee, I was not allowed to meet her. I was offended by this. We are dirty men, probably because of this we were not allowed to meet Didi.

  • In Tihar, was aware of every second; wondered when it became crime to think of environment: Climate activist Disha Ravi

    The activist claimed during her arrest her autonomy was violated and her photographs were splashed all over the news.

  • Cyber Crime Volunteer Programme: Citizens to ‘spy’ on each other on social media? Beware!

    Express News Service
    BENGALURU: Next time you post on Facebook or Instagram, or tweet a meme about a government policy, beware! For, even if a couple of your hundreds of contacts have signed up to be a volunteer for the Ministry for Home Affairs ‘Cyber Crime Volunteer Programme’, they can report any post that annoys or worries them.

    These ordinary citizens are being asked to judge if a post threatens — anything from sovereignty of our nation and public order, to international relations and child rights — and alert the national-level agency.

    The volunteer programme is supposed to act as a facilitative tool between ordinary citizens and the government for the prevention of cybercrime. Any citizen can register himself/herself under one of three categories: ‘Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger’, ‘Cyber Awareness Promoter’, and ‘Cyber Expert’. Post-registration, the individual can directly report “unlawful content” being circulated over the Internet, which presumably includes social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, among others.

    Maitreyi Krishnan, advocate, said, “This is a violation of the fundamental right to privacy. On what basis is the government asking people to spy on each other? This will lead to all kinds of vigilantism.”Vivek Sood, senior advocate, Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, said it was a violation of the right to privacy of the citizens. 

    Withdraw cybercrime volunteer programme, experts urge govt

    “These volunteers can be said to be the informers of the Big Brothers (George Orwell’s 1984) alias the law enforcement agencies,” Vivek Sood, senior advocate, Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, said.Meanwhile, the Internet Freedom Foundation has written to the MHA, urging it to withdraw the programme immediately. The Foundation has stated that the offences included in the scope of this programme in the ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ are already cognizable and can be reported to the police by any person. Therefore, there is confusion as to the necessity of this programme, it said.

    “Under the programme, I4C (The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre) and the MHA have allowed a person to register as a ‘Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger’ without fulfilling the requirement of any prior verification (KYC). Since no verification is required and the nature of the position itself is voluntary, it absolves the I4C and the MHA of any liability or guilt in cases of misuse,” the Foundation said.

    Dr A Nagarathna, assistant professor, NLSIU, said,  “The programme has been launched without having any underlying legal framework or Standard Operating Procedure in place which would regulate the functioning of this programme and define its parameters. In the absence of such a framework, the possibility of misuse and arbitrariness increases.”

  • Centre’s social media rules are dictatorial: Maharashtra Minister

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A Maharashtra minister on Saturday opposed the central government’s regulations for social media platforms and over-the-top (OTT) players, terming them as “dictatorial” and a “threat” to the democracy.

    The Minister of State for IT Satej Patil also said these regulations need to be opposed strongly as they infringe the privacy of individuals and free speech given by the Constitution.

    “This move by the Centre needs to be fought tooth and nail. Such dictatorial regulations will not be accepted by the people of this democratic country,” he said.

    Some bureaucrats deciding on what needs to be published and what not on any media platform is nothing but an attack on the freedom of press in India, Patil added.

    “Such orders will not have any standing in the court of law,” he said.

    Talking about the arrest of activist Disha Ravi for her alleged involvement in sharing a “toolkit” on social media related to the farmers’ protest, the senior Congress leader from Kolhapur said the entire episode was an act to suppress the voice of those who are exercising their freedom to speech.

    A Delhi court recently granted bail to the activist.

    The Centre on February 25announced sweeping regulations for social media firms, such as Facebook and Twitter as well as OTT players like Netflix, requiring them to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and setting up a complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in the country.

    The regulations also make it mandatory for platforms such as Twitter and WhatsApp to identify the originator of a message that authorities consider to be anti-national and against security and sovereignty of the country.