Reviews measures to block provocative material
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 25: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba today held high-level review of misuse of social media by “undesirable elements’’ (including militants) in the country especially J&K to fan trouble and directed for taking concrete steps to immediately block provocative material, which could lead to unrest and other forms of trouble.
The Home Secretary issued series of directions at the meeting which was attended by top officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), security agencies, representatives of social media groups and cyber experts among others.
Sources told the Excelsior that the meeting was held to review progress on series of measures already announced by the MHA to check the activities of “anti-national’’ and “anti-social’’ elements trying to spread provocative material through social media to incite trouble in the country including the Valley.
There was sufficient progress in curtailing the on-line activities of Pakistani militants, who were using WhatsApp Groups and Facebook to provoke crowd to gather at the site of encounters and pelt stones on security forces to facilitate escape of the militants. The trend has been contained to quite an extent but it was observed that more steps were required to fully block the “provocative activities’’ of the anti-national elements, both from within as well as outside the country.
“Some of the Groups were being operated from Pakistan and Gulf nations while few others had their origin in the Kashmir valley. Majority of these Groups have been blocked,’’ sources said, adding that the militants sitting in Pakistan had been trying to create new Groups but their plan was being regularly foiled by the cyber experts of security agencies.
The Home Secretary, sources said, asked Google, Twitter, WhatsApp and other social media platforms to take concrete steps to check spread of rumours and messages inciting unrest, cyber crimes and other activities that could be detrimental to the national security across the country including sensitive States like Jammu and Kashmir.
Besides, these platforms, which also include Facebook and Instagram, have also been asked to put in place a system for prompt sharing of information sought by the law enforcement agencies for investigation purposes, sources added.
A number of cases have come to the fore in recent past where social media platforms were used to spread hate messages and rumours inciting violence, including against women, but internet giants — most of them being headquartered outside India — have been resisting sharing of customer details and message trails citing privacy issues.
However, some social media firms have said they are taking necessary steps to stop misuse of their platforms for spread of fake news, rumours and hate messages.
In a meeting with representatives of various social media platforms, Rajiv Gauba also asked them to nominate India-based grievance redressal officers and develop a monitoring mechanism for time-bound preventive and other actions for removal of objectionable contents.
Those who attended the meeting included representatives of Facebook, Google, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram. Besides, officials from the Department of Telecom and various security agencies were also present.
All social media platforms have assured full cooperation with the Government, sources said.
Since a review meet held by the Union Home Secretary with social media representatives in June this year, a series of meetings has taken place with law enforcement agencies and social media firms to ensure an effective mechanism to prevent misuse of these platforms by anti-national elements and those involved in proliferation of child sexually abuse material etc.
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