According to recent media reports the Ministry of Home Affairs is set to take the fight against terrorists and secessionists to a next level and the Government is set to announce a new social media policy whereby the Government will keep an eye on social media activities in order to curb any anti-National activities. As and when it is officially announced and formulated by the Government, the policy is going to be a historic move even as it will take on the miscreants present on social media and help the Nation to fight terrorism even in the virtual world.
In the said circumstances, it is indispensable to understand how social media has been misused for catering to terrorism, secessionism and other anti-national activities of a like nature.
Blatant misuse of social media:
The last decade has seen the rise of social media which has been used in several innovative ways ranging from political campaigns to commercial advertisements but there is a dark side to it too. There are several social media blogs which have extensively engaged in anti-National propaganda and seditious activities often instigating sections of the society to go up in arms against the Nation. Since the social media platforms are of a relatively origin the Government has not been exercising sufficient control on such platforms making the social media a breeding ground for dissemination of information having the potential of instigating suspicious sections of society and endangering the National Security.
The most common form of the misuse of social media to propagate is the radicalization and recruitment of terrorists from several countries by ISIS and India is no stranger to this challenge. Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs had already appointed former IPS officer Ashok Prasad as adviser on cyber and social media in October last year with an eye on preventing recruitment of Indian youth by the ISIS. The fact that ISIS is indulging in recruitment of Indian youth through social media is therefore not confined to media reports but it is a reasonable apprehension which is also accepted by the Government.
According to the MHA, framing a policy is also necessary because there have been instances where social media has been used by anti-national elements for peddling fake news and spreading rumours which has sparked violence in several sensitive regions of the country.
Expect liberal outrage:
Misuse of social media to recruit terrorists and spark off violence is undoubtedly a threat to national unity and integrity. In an ideal world, one would expect the political spectrum and the civil society to show solidarity, come up with suggestions to frame an efficacious policy and stand firmly with the Government but we are living in peculiar and unfortunate circumstances where the means of political survival taken up by political outfits having control on the mainstream media have only one mode of survival, i.e. siding with the internal and external enemies of the Nation in order to destabilize the Government in power and somehow gain power. We should not expect any act of Statesmanship from any of the anti-BJP coalition leaders but expect them to continue with the JNU trend of protecting terrorists, anti-national elements and secessionists in the name of free speech.
Conclusion:
The MHA seems to be moving in the right direction by responding to a new trend of spreading terror. The rise of Social Media has opened up opportunities for the terrorist organizations to recruit radicalized sections from every nook and corner of the country. Why would a terrorist organization based in Pakistan take the pains and risks of crossing the borders to recruit terrorists when it can easily recruit them in the online mode? Similarly, the Social Media has the potential of being misused to spread misinformation and cause strife in tense areas. The Jeep incident in Jammu and Kashmir was one such incident where half-baked information in order to defame the Security Forces and cause unrest. The Security Forces are no longer required to secure us physically for cyber security may prove to be an even bigger challenge.
The Centre need not worry about the opposition and anti-national elements misrepresenting sedition and terrorism as free speech and democratic protest. The Government must be prepared to take all the criticism and go alone in this matter for the days of political consensus are now over. The Government can negotiate terms with those who are equally concerned about National Security but not with those who have time and again shown that National Interest and Security does not even feature in their list of priorities.
