Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said that India’s digital sovereignty will not be compromised at any cost. This comes amid the Centre’s row with Twitter over the new IT rules. (Photo: PTI file)
Amid a feud between the Centre and social media giant Twitter over the government’s new IT rules for social media intermediaries, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad addressed major questions in an exclusive interview with India Today.
Q. What is the issue? Why are Twitter and the central government not able to see eye to eye on the new rules?
A. India has around 130 crore users of Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and so on. We welcome this. People should use these platforms and ask the government questions through them. We respect that. We do not have any issue with foreign companies doing business here.
The problem is not with the use of social media. The problem is with misuse of it. When that happens, what should a person do?
Is it not true that sometimes compromising photographs of women are uploaded on social media? Sometimes people are defamed on social media? To counter this, we have asked social media companies in the new IT rules to appoint a grievance redressal officer so that Indian users have someone to complain to in such situations. They should not have to complain to someone in the US. What is the problem with that?
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From WhatsApp, we just want to know the origin of messages that cause violence, riots, terrorism, rape, threat to national security and so on. The Supreme Court has said in past judgments that the government has the right to know the origin of fake messages which create problems.
In the Delhi riots of 2020 for example, many people got caught thanks to strong digital forensic evidence. So it is the duty of these social media companies to help law enforcement agencies.
This will not change anything for ordinary WhatsApp users.
Q. But WhatsApp is saying they will have to break end-to-end encryption for this and that will compromise their users’ right to privacy.
A. I want to ask a question. When the US or UK governments ask for the origin of messages circulated by terrorists, these social media companies give it. Then why can’t they do the same for the Indian government?
What about WhatsApp’s new privacy policy? In that case, WhatsApp doesn’t care about encryption?
As the law minister, I want to say to all social media companies that India’s digital sovereignty will not be compromised at any cost. As an American profit-making company, do business in India by all means. But follow India’s laws and constitution. Our Parliament and institutions are just as important as any other nation’s.
Q. This Twitter vs Centre row comes at the same time as the ‘toolkit’ case in which BJP and Congress are involved. Is the government’s agenda with the implementation of the new IT rules now a way to ‘backdoor censor’?
A. These new IT rules were published on February 25 in the gazette. We said significant social media companies will get three months to comply. They knew that. There was no toolkit case at that time.
On the ‘toolkit’ case, the issue is with the police. Our country’s law says that if an issue is with the police, everyone should help in the investigation. If Twitter had some evidence through which they marked certain tweets as ‘manipulated media’, why not share it with the police?
The police did not go to their office to arrest them but to summon them because they did not come when called.
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The big question is that Twitter is a platform where anyone can say anything. Unless a tweet promotes terrorism or compromises a woman’s dignity, who is Twitter to decide what should be censored and what should not be?
If someone is criticising someone, they cannot decide to shut that account. On the one hand, Twitter wants to promote freedom of expression. And then they decide whose account to block.
Q. So you think Twitter is working on behalf of the Congress? Why would they do that?
A. Those who do their politics through Twitter are now doing the politics of Twitter. Congress should learn to work on-ground.
Q. Kabil Sibal raised the following question: How can the BJP say Twitter’s act of marking the tweet as ‘manipulated media’ dilutes its credibility as unbiased before the police investigation is over?
A. This is not Kapil Sibal, senior advocate, speaking. This is Kapil Sibal, senior Congress minister. I have nothing else to say.
Q. Twitter has said many times that the Centre has asked it to remove tweets that are against the government. Twitter has complied also. If Twitter is biased against the government, then why did they remove 50 tweets that the Centre asked it to remove in April?
A. Twitter is a platform, not a regulator.
To regulate, they say they have kept fact-checkers. Who are these fact-checkers? I want to know their names and how they have been appointed.
Some of these fact-checkers have one agenda, Hate Modi. Twitter could not find any neutral fact-checkers in such a big country? This question needs to be raised.
Twitter should just follow India’s laws. Just put a grievance redressal officer so an ordinary person can make a complaint. Appoint a nodal officer so an investigating agency can get help from you.
Q- So fact-checkers are only neutral if they are on the government’s side?
A. No. But a fact-checker whose agenda is to hate Modi cannot be a fact-checker. We welcome criticism. Our Prime Minister has been receiving criticism from across the globe since 2001.
But social media companies cannot promote only one side.
Q. It has been suggested that India should have an independent internet regulator, free of any government control. Is there any discussion on this within the government?
A. We are trying to bring the new data protection bill in the next session of Parliament. That will answer many questions.