The arrival of social media in a big way in the past few years has caused a lot of flutter all over the world. While social media use has grown rapidly over the last decade, more and more Indians are using a range of social media sites. While one section of people is using these platforms to get news and information, social networking sites have also simultaneously emerged as a key platform for political debate and discussions. One of the most significant recent examples of social media use and its impact that had cut across international boundaries is the ‘Me Too’ movement. This movement aimed at raising awareness among the people about sexual harassment and assault, and had led to such a situation that several prominent persons across the world were dismissed from the respective powerful positions that they had held and enjoyed. In India, for instance a veteran journalist-turned politician lost his ministerial berth because of the intensity of the ‘Me Too’ movement in which was badly entangled for his alleged past deeds of sexual harassment. In India, as also in many other countries, organisations, groups, individuals and political parties have all begun making use of social media to carry forward their campaigns. The last two Lok Sabha elections are some of the finest examples how social media have emerged as a powerful communication tool in fighting elections. But then, misuse of social media has also emerged simultaneously, causing a lot of problems in various aspects. Individuals have taken to using social media to defame others by way of leveling false allegations too.
Blatant misuse of social media has already caused deep impact, with media reports even pointing at incidents of suicides, murders and other crimes. Another area that has come to the fore is the use and misuse of social media by government officers and employees. While certain laws and rules restrict government officials from using mass media including news media without the prior permission of the authorities, the arrival of social media has all of a sudden threatened to pull down such restrictions. In India, where political parties have used social media to run campaigns against ruling parties in elections, have, on assuming power, found it seemingly difficult to accept the fact that social media should not be permitted to be used freely by one and all. The recent movement against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act is one such instance where the powers that be have disliked the idea of people using social media to criticize and oppose certain decisions of the government. Groups opposed to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act have made such effective use of social media that the day the Act was passed by Rajya Sabha, Guwahati witnessed an immediate mass upsurge against it, which was triggered off through social media networking.
The situation turned so difficult that the government had to impose a ban on use of the Internet in Assam for several days with the intention of cutting off communication channels that had in a span of a couple of days helped build a massive anti-CAA movement. Similar restrictions were lately imposed in several other states of the country when the same Act triggered off massive protests – though the fact remains that reason for protest in Assam against the Act and elsewhere in the country were entirely different. Soon thereafter the government of Assam also issued instructions warning government employees – particularly officers and teachers – against using social media platforms for criticizing the government. The Union government on its part has approached the Supreme Court against alleged misuse of the Internet and social media, and hearing on several cases that have been clubbed together is supposed to begin in the apex court later this month.
While it definitely amounts to curtailing to some extent the right to freedom of expression, the question also arises about how much freedom one should enjoy and exercise in matters of public impotance and public impact. Similar problems had also arisen in the past – in the pre-Internet era – when individuals had misused the print media too, defaming individuals with unfounded stories which were mostly gossip. But then, in the post-RTI era, one has to also look back and find out how much damage the colonial Officials Secret Act had caused by facilitating concealment of information in a country like India where every voter is an equal partner in the democratic sysem. It is true that no individual has the right to misuse social media and the right to freedom of expression. Like old-school journalism teaching that ‘it is also equally important what not to write’ India, and the world too, also requires some kind of self-imposed restriction so that it becomes ‘equally important what not to say or post in social media’ in the greater interest of the society.