Sir,
It is heartening to read that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is coming up with a new social media policy in order to keep a vigil on the social media to check if it is being ‘misused’ to conspire against our country and spread antinational propaganda (DE, June 23, 2017).Though the social media is a powerful medium of sharing valuable information and quickly reaching out to the people,especially in times of emergency such as disaster such as earthquake, landslide, accidents etc.,in many cases it is misused a lot.Many a time, objectionable material such as obscene pictures/videos and derogatory messages for celebrities such as politicians are uploaded on the social media tarnishing their image.In other cases,baseless rumours are spread by antisocial and antinational elements by uploading objectional videos/messages, which can fuel violence and cause law and order problems. Sometimes,these rumours lead to violence and tension to such an extent that the authorities are compelled to impose a ban/suspension on social networking sites in order to restore peace. Moreover,cybercrimes such as cyberbullying, hacking of accounts etc also are reported many a time. Our state, being militancy affected,the misuse of social media is certainly more challanging in our sensitive state than those not affected by it.Thus, it is imperative that social media is not allowed to be misused and strict vigil is exercised to ensure that social media is properly used and no antinational propaganda is spread through it.Therefore, there is a dire need to frame full fledged guidelines for the social media to prevent its misuse and help the intelligence agencies and security forces to effectively deal with any such propaganda.The formulation of stringent policy to check the misuse of social media will certainly help in reducing cyber crime and incidents of violence caused by rumours spread through the social media .
Yours etc….
Ashok Sharma,
Housing Colony,Udhampur
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