The Parliamentary panel chief cited data on views garnered by various accounts to show the gap between what he called “anti-establishment” content and the mainstream political parties. Dubey said the Cockroach Janta Party, which began as a social media movement initiated by Abhijeet Dipke, gained 30 million view in the past one week, while the Bharatiya Janata Party saw only 10 million views.
Event Context
“In the past one week, anti-reservation content got 8 million views, CJP got 30 million views, BJP got 10 million views, Congress got 15 million views, Samajwadi Party got 2 million views, and Aam Aadmi Party got 1 million views. Why are you promoting others in this manner,” he asked.
Team Analysis
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Dubey further voiced alarm over the use of VPNs and claimed that the social media companies do not reveal the number of users accessing their platforms through virtual private networks.
Calling for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s apology , Dubey said, “If the content of the prime minister of this country can be taken down and kept deleted for five hours, from 12.30 am to 5.30 am, there cannot be a more serious issue than this. An apology will not suffice. Zuckerberg will have to apologise.”
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Dubey also lashed out at the social media platforms’ inability to curb women and child sexual abuse material, in violation of Indian laws. The Parliamentary panel, which met on Monday to discuss regulation of social media and digital platforms, recommended the withdrawal of “safe harbour” protection provided to these portals.
Match Outlook
“The entire committee unanimously recommended that if you fail to take down child sexual abuse material, fail to remove objectionable content targeting women, and continue to promote anti-national forces while not giving due prominence to government content, your safe harbour protection will be withdrawn,” he said.
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According to Dubey, the “safe harbour” protection was provided under the Information Technology Act, 2000, to internet service providers before social media platforms came into existence. “Safe harbour was provided because, if someone committed a crime using the internet, no action would be taken against internet service providers such as BSNL, MTNL, Reliance and Airtel. These social media companies came later,” he said. Dubey said various laws have been enacted since to ensure that intermediaries removed illegal content.
