Government On Planning To “Filter” Out “Anti-National” Propaganda By Unveiling New Social Media Policy

To tackle the social media misuse and to crack down the anti-national activity propagating in the country, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is planning to bring the bill which will take care of the same problem. In a meeting that was held on Thursday among representatives of central security agencies and the home ministry to discuss various issues related to it, official sources said.

The government is keen on passing the law and is finalizing a policy which will be keeping a hawk’s eye on the social media to check if it is being “misused” to conspire against India and spread anti-national propaganda.

In the current scenario, there is only a set of “Do’s and Don’ts” for the social media which will be transformed to full-fledged guidelines that should be adopted on such a network. The move is seen as significant one as there were instances reported of terrorists being using social media to conspire against the country or to propagate anti-national material.

The instances were reported where rumours spread on the social media which resulted in violence and the tense situations in different parts of the country. The misuse of social media is more challenging especially with reference to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, they said. The stakeholders are discussing ways to finalise a policy to help intelligence agencies and security forces effectively deal with any propaganda, the sources said. The infrastructure requirements like manpower and technological needs for monitoring of the social media are also being finalised, they said.