Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday advised the Centre to hold discussions with stakeholders to evolve a national policy on countering the misuse of social media.
Naidu made the comment after several members expressed concern over the menace of social media and lynching incidents in the House. “The issue of misuse of social media is a larger issue and also a sensitive and serious one,” the Upper House chairperson said when Janata Dal (United) MP Harivansh raised the matter. “We cannot come to a conclusion on one side. You cannot take unilateral action also.”
Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray also urged the government to come up with a comprehensive policy to prevent the misuse of social media sites.
Naidu asked the government to hold discussions with all the stakeholders, including political parties, and then try to evolve a national policy, as “this will have international ramifications also”.
Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said social media platform WhatsApp had responded to the government’s notice on the matter. The platforms are “equally responsible” if they are being exploited, he added. He told Naidu his ministry would consult all the stakeholders as Naidu had suggested.
In the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government had asked social media platforms for regulation of content as they were being used to spread fake news and rumours, ANI reported. The Congress then staged a walkout in protest against the minister’s remarks.
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