Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing the National Integration Council meet
Policing and surveillance of the social media and Internet may increase by leaps and bounds in India, with the Prime Minister and a number of chief ministers today expressing concern over the misuse of such platforms to foment communal clashes.
The misuse of social media was a key theme at the National Integration Council meet called today in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar communal clashes in which nearly 50 were killed and 40,000 were displaced.
A fake online video allegedly shared on various sites by BJP MLA Sangeet Som is believed to have fed the communal frenzy a fortnight ago.
"Social media should not be used irresponsibly, it should not become a platform for those trying to cause trouble," warned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He also referred to a fake video that forced hundreds of people from the northeast to leave Karnataka last year.
The PM spoke of an urgent need to devise mechanism to ward against the misuse of networking sites.
Chief ministers across parties echoed his concerns.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnik said SMS and social media were being increasingly used to send out communally sensitive messages and fan hatred. "A mechanism to prevent and control such mediums in critical situations is the need of the hour" he said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots called the social media a key platform to spread communally sensitive material and divide people along religious lines.
"The Centre must devise means and have a mechanism which will allow the administration to trace those behind such messages as well as the sites carrying them," he said.
Maharashtra CM Prithiraj Chauhan said the challenge posed by the misuse of cyber space had to be carefully addressed, but not at the cost of freedom of expression.
Later, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari said although the government isn't in favour of censorship, some mechanism was needed. 'More presence of government in the social media could be a way to counter malicious flow of information," he said.