Social Media guidelines issued by the government was the need of the hour

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The government has announced the guidelines governing social media and streaming companies which aims to fix the accountability. Even as a nationwide discussion on the issue is yet to settle down our two very eminent experts Shekhar Aiyar, Senior Journalist, and Subhash Ghai, Veteran Filmmaker throw light on why such guidelines were important?

“A lot of discussions have taken place on this issue within Parliament for bringing some guidelines for Social, Digital, and OTT platforms. The Supreme Court at least twice in past has asked the government about the progress on guidelines. There were also complaints from the common citizens about the misuse of these platforms while portraying women and children. Also, it was being misused by the anti-social and anti-national elements,”

“These platforms are extensively spread with millions of users in the country. Whatsapp has over 50 crore users, YouTube has 45 crore users, Facebook has 41 crore users, Instagram has 21 crore users, and Twitter has over One crore 75 thousand users,” adds Aiyar.

“Also, the government has made it amply clear that the aim of the guidelines is to not take away the right of the individuals to criticize the government but to make social media companies act more responsibly,” notes Aiyar.

“It is a historic step which was felt for a few years now. There were demands from various quarters for such guidelines that these platforms were overstepping. We want a country where there is peace and harmony without negativity for which these guidelines will be very fruitful,” says Ghai.

He welcomes the role of the government as a regulator by giving a traffic signal analogy saying “if there are no red lights then the traffic would be more confused.”

“The social media players like Facebook and Twitter were acting irresponsibly who were not following the laws or constitutional provisions. They were acting on their own whims and fancies suspending or blocking accounts. At least once the account is suspended it should be communicated to the account user,” according to Aiyar.

“In the farm protestors’ rampage on January 26, there was a big role of social media in it as it was extensively used for instigating the farmers,” he points out.

“I have seen society-changing every 5-10 years but the penetration of social media and OTT platforms have been very invasive especially someone trolling has been very repulsive. When it starts to threaten the national security and national integrity of the country then the government should step in under such circumstances,” adds Ghai.