In the wake of rumours which have created panic among people from North East, social media like Facebook and Twitter on Friday came under sharp focus in Parliament with demands for putting control on the networking sites.
Members in both Houses of Parliament alleged that the social networking sites were being used to spread wrong, distorted and provocative content.
Kunal Kumar Ghosh (Trinamool) said in the Rajya Sabha that the social networking sites were largely responsible for creating a situation of panic in parts of the country following the Assam incident.
“...in this era of information technology, while we have made progress in many fields, many irresponsible people deliberately use the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and emails to project a distorted picture of the incidents among the people,” Mr. Ghosh said participating a discussion on Assam violence.
“I would appeal to all of you to let us preserve the freedom of speech, but at the same time, we must also put immediate control over rumour-mongering activities enacted through sites like Facebook, Tweeter, and blogs,” he said.
Mr. Ghosh said it would not be prudent to allow an individual to be left free to spread the seeds of poison and create anarchy in other parts of the country using social networking sites.
“I believe all political parties and people irrespective of caste and creed are united over this issue,” he said.
Incidentally, in West Bengal which is ruled by Trinamool Congress, two persons, including a professor, were arrested recently for posting online a cartoon allegedly derogatory of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Brajesh Pathak (BSP) said rumours are being spread through social media forcing students and workers from the North East region to leave their studies and jobs in places like Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and other cities.
He also demanded a probe to find out the social media platforms indulging in such anti-social activities.
In the Lok Sabha, Baijyayant Panda (BJD) said people were being provoked through the internet and it should be stopped immediately.
Sanjiv Naik (NCP) said “wrong information” is being spread that a large number of people from the North East are moving out from Mumbai and this should be stopped and demanded removal of a film clip being shown on YouTube about violence by the North East people.
Similarly, on social media site Facebook a lot of wrong information is being spread, he said. “90 per cent of such messages are wrong,” he added.
Given the mood of the members, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told the Lok Sabha that he would ask all states to take preventive action wherever necessary.
He said he had asked the Director of Intelligence Bureau to trace the source of the SMSes and content on internet sites like Facebook and YouTube that appeared to be the cause for panic among people of North East in various parts of the country.
Keywords: northeast violence, Assam violence, social networking sites, rumours, Parliament session, Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha
Instead of banning services Government should improve technology.
Technology which can trace and block offensive or targeted words. It is
the solution of problem instead of banning services. Today we are
talking about banning these services, it means we have to cut the
electricity supply of whole country if any one get shock by electricity
in any corner of the country. Or we have stop drinking water instead of
purifying it if we find that full of germs.
This is a backhanded attempt by Congress to put a lid on sites like Facebook and Twitter, particularly since the attempt by Kapil Sibal to size them down failed.
Let us not fall a prey to these machinations.
May the freedom of speech and expression be preserved.
its not about how social networking has help to spread the rumour? but,
about how, why the mainland feels about our unremotely remoted NE ? We
the people of the NE learn about, what's India ? how it looks ? history,
geography,politics.......but still India don't wanna learn n see about
NE ! so such incidents are unevitable until our state is filled with
politics filled with bereaucacy and racism to gain the power of
democracy.
The logic could be extended to cell phones... Rumours could be spread
through SMSs.. Would the government ban cell phones....The influx from
Bangladesh was never checked..and this is the origin of all problems..
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