No govt communication ever threatened social media platforms' staff of jail term: IT Ministry
New Delhi: The government has never threatened employees of any social media platform, such as Twitter, of jail term, the IT Ministry has said.
Reacting to reports that alluded to Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter employees being threatened with jail term, the Ministry said social media platforms are "obliged to follow the laws of India and the Constitution of India, just like all other businesses in India have to."
"As has been conveyed on the floor of Parliament, users of social media can criticise the government, the Prime Minister or any Minister but promotion of violence, rampant communal divide and stoking the flames of terrorism will have to be reflected upon," it said.
The government had ordered Twitter to take down hundreds of posts, accounts and hashtags, that it saw violating rules. Twitter initially did not fully comply but fell in line after the government showed the rule book that contained penal provisions.
The IT Ministry went on to state that the recent guidelines pertaining to social media simply require the platforms to put in place a robust grievance redressal mechanism for users.
"None of the government communications, either written or oral, have ever threatened the employees of any of the social media platforms of jail term," it said.
"The government welcomes criticism and dissent. However, of late, repeated instances of abuse of social media to foment hate, discord and violence by terrorist groups from outside India and circulation of morphed images of women, revenge porn posing threat to the safety of users especially women users have become grave concerns," it said.
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BJP accuses AAP of circulating 'edited' videos to malign Swati Maliwal
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi BJP Saturday accused AAP leaders of circulating "edited" videos to tarnish the image of their own party MP Swati Maliwal, who has accused an aide of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of assaulting her.
It is regrettable that "edited" videos are being circulated on social media groups since Friday in an attempt to "defame" Maliwal who is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police arrested Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar who has been accused by Maliwal of assaulting her at the CM's residence on Monday.
A couple of videos from the chief minister's residence from the day of the incident have surfaced on social media, one showed Maliwal having an argument with security personnel, while the other showed her walking out of the CM's residence in the Civil Lines.
"Now that the entire Aam Aadmi Party is tarnishing the image of Swati Maliwal, it's time Kejriwal comes forward and speaks on the matter," Sachdeva said.
The AAP has accused Maliwal of lying and becoming a part of the BJP conspiracy to frame Kejriwal in a fake case in the midst of elections.
Sachdeva said now that Kejriwal's aide has been arrested by police, many "dirty pages" of AAP's politics will become public.
If the AAP is trying to implicate Maliwal by circulating "edited" videos, it would be better for the Delhi Police to immediately take possession of the complete CCTV footage of the chief minister's residence, Sachdeva said.
He charged that Maliwal is not the first woman leader of the AAP that the party has has defamed.
Earlier, they also raised questions about Kiran Bedi, Shazia Ilmi and Richa Pandey who have all left the AAP, Sachdeva added.
