IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that for the upcoming general elections, it is only appropriate that Election Commission monitors the content on social media, while adding that such platforms must ensure that they are not misused to influence elections.
“Election Commission is already monitoring it. It is only appropriate and desirable that election commission must monitor, coordinate and lay the ground rules for the working of social media till elections,” Mr. Prasad said when asked about regulation of content on social media in the view of upcoming elections.
The minister, who also holds the portfolio of Law and Justice, added that purity of Indian democracy is “too sacred” and social media must ensure that data is not abused to influence elections. “I have no problems if someone wants to campaign using social media,” he said.
The Election Commission on Tuesday met with representatives of online social media platforms, including officials from IAMAI, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Google, ShareChat, TikTok and BigoTV, to review the steps being taken to identify and report electoral rule violations in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls.
