Social media can't make or break your day: Sania Mirza's advice on handling trolls
Bengaluru (PTI): "Social media cannot make or break your day," said six-time Grand Slam Champion Sania Mirza while speaking with Indian cricketer Richa Ghosh during a fireside chat at the Future Makers Conclave (FMC) in Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025.
Moderated by sports journalist Mayanti Langer, Mirza shared her hard-earned wisdom.
"There are a couple of ways to handle it. She (Richa Ghosh) is still young, and my advice to her is just be as somebody who has faced and grown up in an era where electronic media and social media were coming."
"When I was coming up, we were about just newspapers, and Sportstar was the only kind of window to sports. But then electronic media started coming, the tabloids started coming in. It started getting boring to talk just about forehands and backhands, and then they wanted to start talking about, you know, other things of an athlete's life just to make things interesting, and then comes the criticism that you lost a match because you were out for dinner somewhere," she added.
Recalling the absurd comments that she used to face back then, Mirza said, "It made me very thick-skinned. So, I actually find it quite humorous. I actually find it quite funny that people who have never held a cricket bat or a tennis racket or a boxing glove in their hand can have such a big opinion about what you do professionally."
"And I feel really sad for them sometimes, because I'm like, you must really be unhappy with your life to hate someone you've never met who's trying to represent the country at the highest level," she added.
Pitying the comments that criticises her online, she said, "You don't take the good to heart, and you don't take the bad to heart. Because social media or media cannot make or break your day. It cannot be that important. What can make or break your day is what the people you love feel about you, who you love feels about you, what communication you have with them."
Ghosh, a young cricketer of the Indian women's cricket team who grew up in the social media era, had different perspective when asked about the way she handles social media criticism.
Gosh said she sees criticism as an indicator of growth in women's cricket.
"To be honest, I take it very positively, because earlier in women's cricket we didn't have that many followers or fans. But now, as the numbers grow, the criticism will also grow. So I try to take that part positively," she said.
Ghosh said the bigger we get the criticism, the more people come to watch the game.
"I take that as a positive sign, because it means more people are watching, they're liking what women's cricket is doing, and they see the value in it. And in cricket today, the bigger it gets, the more people come to watch."
The three day 28th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, themed "Futurise," was organised by the Department of Electronics, IT & Bt, Government of Karnataka, concluded on Thursday at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).
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Bill to regulate deepfakes tabled in Lok Sabha
New Delhi (PTI): A Private Member's Bill seeking a clear legal framework for regulation of deepfakes has been introduced in the Lok Sabha.
The Regulation of Deepfake Bill, introduced by Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde in the House on Friday, aims to protect citizens by mandating prior consent from individuals depicted in deepfake content.
"Misuse of deepfakes for harassment, deception and misinformation has escalated, creating an urgent need for regulatory safeguards," Shinde said.
The Bill also lists penalties for offenders creating or disseminating deepfake content with malicious intent.
"With advancements in artificial intelligence and deep learning, deepfake technology has emerged as a significant tool for media manipulation. While the technology has potential applications in education, entertainment and creative fields, it also poses severe risks when misused, threatening individual privacy, national security and public trust," Shinde said in the statement of objects and reasons in the Bill.
The proposed Bill seeks to establish a clear legal framework to govern the creation, distribution and application of deepfakes in India, said Shinde, a three-term Lok Sabha member from Kalyan.
The Bill also seeks to establish the Deepfake Task Force, a dedicated body to combat national security implications and evaluate the influence of deepfakes on privacy, civic participation, and potential election interference.
The task force will collaborate with academic and private sector institutions to develop technologies that detect manipulated content, thereby promoting credibility in digital media.
The Bill also proposes to establish a fund to support public and private sector initiatives in the detection and deterrence of advanced image manipulation.
A Private Member's Bill is a procedure of Parliament that enables lawmakers, who are not ministers, to draw attention to issues that might not be represented in Government Bills or to highlight the issues and gaps in the existing legal framework that require legislative intervention.
