“Government Does Not Want to Ban any Social Media, but They Must Follow Local Rules:” Minister

NEW DELHI, June 17:  The government is not in favour of banning any social media platform, the union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday in view of Twitter’s refusal to comply with the local rules so far.

“If half of the government is on Twitter, including Prime Minister and President, it shows how fair the government is, but social media intermediaries, a status that Twitter has lost, have to follow local rules,” the minister said.

About WhatsApp, he said all ordinary users can continue to use it. “It is my word,” the minister said. The minister’s remarks come amid the ongoing face-off between the government and Twitter which escalated as the government withdrew from Twitter the legal protection that all social media intermediaries in the country enjoy.

The minister said the government does not want all messages in WhatsApp to be decrypted. “If any content goes viral, causing mob lynching, riots, killing, showing women in nudity, sexual exploitation of children, only in these limited categories, you will be asked to declare who started the mischief,” the minister said.

In case if an inciting message originated outside the country, then the government wants to know who started it in India, the minister added.

“When Capitol Hill in Washington was raided, you block Twitter accounts of all including then President. During farmers’ strike, Red Fort is raided by terrorist supporters showing naked swords, injuring policemen and pushing them in a ditch, then it’s freedom of expression. If Capitol Hill is US’ pride, Red Fort is India’s where PM hoists Tricolour. You show parts of Ladakh as China’s part. It takes a fortnight for us to pursue you to remove it. This isn’t fair. As a democracy, India is equally entitled to safeguard its digital sovereignty,” the minister said.

(Manas Dasgupta)