NEW DELHI, Mar 1:
Union Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal today assured the Rajya Sabha that a round table of Members of Parliament would be convened once the Supreme Court gave its verdict on the need to regulate offensive content on social media.
Replying to a Private Members’ resolution moved by Mr P Rajeeve, CPI-M, on the arbitrary use by enforcement agencies to arrest citizens posting comment on social media in violation of the right to freedom of speech, the minister noted that the norms on limits of social media were yet to be prescribed as when the Constitution was framed there was no social media which was a recent phenomenon.
While print had a brief life, in the case of social media, abusive content did not die out in a day and in that sense was ”a continuing offence”, he pointed out.
Before rushing with any amendment to India’s cyber laws, the minister suggested awaiting the judgement of the apex court since the social media being a new media there was a need to have guidelines for it.
There were no clear cut international rules under which the media operated. ”Governments and citizens all over the world are grappling with it,” he told the House.
Mr Rajeeve in his reply before withdrawing his resolution urged the Government to act in a time-bound manner as the issues raised were of a very serious nature.
Globalisation has changed the nature, definition and content of social interaction, he added.
(UNI)
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