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Journalism of Courage
India has raised the concerns over misuse of social media at a global platform with Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad stating at the meeting of G20 IT ministers in Argentina that such platforms will “never be allowed to abuse our election process for extraneous means”. He also said that the government will take all required steps to deter and punish those seeking to vitiate the democratic process.
“The use of cyber mediums to spread radical thought is again a challenge that needs to be addressed both domestically by better regulations as well as international cooperation. India is taking all possible steps to making the cyberspace absolutely safe for an average person to transact and our message is clear that an act of cyber-crime or cyber threat will be dealt severely,” a statement from the IT ministry said, quoting Prasad.
At the G20 meeting, Prasad also underscored India’s concerns about data protection and individual privacy and said at the meeting — which was also attended by the Russian Minister of Digital Development, Communications & Mass Media and Chinese Minister of Industry & Information Technology — that privacy cannot prohibit innovation nor can it become the shield for the corrupt or terrorists. He further said the Indian Supreme Court, while upholding the right to privacy has also elaborated these aspects and we must have a fine balance between data availability, data innovation, data anonymity and data privacy. “We need data to improve business but the data must be anonymous, objective, and taken with consent”, he added.
