No proposal in the ministry to control social media, says Rajyavardhan Rathore

The government on Monday said in the Rajya Sabha that there is no proposal currently planned to control social media.

When asked if it was planning to do so, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said in a written reply, "There is no proposal in the ministry to control social media. However, the ministry proposes to set up a social media hub to facilitate information flow regarding its policies and programmes through the concerned platforms i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube etc."

The question of controlling the media was asked as it was posing a serious threat to the society, following which Rathore said, "There is no proposal to invade an individual's right to privacy."

Few days ago, the Supreme Court had asked the government if its move to create a Social Media Hub was to tap people's WhatsApp messages, remarking its similarity to a surveillance state.

The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited, a Public Sector Undertaking under the ministry, had proposed a tender to supply software for the project in May 2018.

(Featured Image – Udemy)