It is erroneous to say that the job of advertising and newspapers is to “manipulate public opinion” (Parley, “Should online political advertising be regulated?,” Nov.8). Newspapers present news and opinions and let the readers ruminate on the issues and decide. Advertisements in newspapers or TV appeal to all the viewers in general without focussing on any particular segment, caste or class of population. Whereas on social media platforms, the political advertising has been seen to resort to targeting specific groups with false, fake or distorted information, thus manipulating the opinions in a specific way. This completely militates against the concept of free and fair elections mandated under Representation of the People Act (RPA). The Election Commission (EC) cannot get away by saying that “it does not have enough manpower to deal with this situation for now”. It is the fundamental duty of the EC to ensure free and fair elections by requisitioning the necessary infrastructure and manpower from the government. While Twitter’s decision to eschew political advertisements is laudable, Facebook’s hiding behind the wall of free speech is unethical. Given the business model, ways of functioning and reach of the online platforms, the best way to ensure that the election process is not vitiated by fake, false or concocted news and micro-sectarian targeting is through formulation of foolproof guidelines by EC to regulate online political advertising/messaging on all social media platforms, including WhatsApp.
Kosaraju Chandramouli,
Hyderabad
