Soldiers should get access to social media within line of control: Army Chief
New Delhi, Sep 4 : Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who doesnt carry a cellphone, on Tuesday said soldiers could not be denied access to the social media and they should be allowed to use smartphones within a line of controlled discipline.
He said the Indian Army needed to make optimal usage of the social media in the advanced age of communication and information.
"The social Media gaining momentum faster than we thought. (If we don't catch up) we will be left far behind and we will be fire fighting again," General Rawat said, speaking at a seminar on "Social Media and Armed Forces".
"Information is one of the pillars of national power. There is no way the Armed Forces can remain away from that," he said
"We have received advice that we should advise our soldiers to stay away from the social media. Can you deny a soldier a smart phone? Can you deny soldier a smartphone at home or prevent his family to own one. If you can't prevent usage of smartphone, it is best to allow it (the access to social media).
"The social media is here to stay. Soldiers will use the social media. Our adversary will use the social media for psychological warfare and deception. We must leverage it to our advantage."
The Army Chief said the social media could be used in combating proxy war, cross-border terrorism but drew a note of caution, saying it was "important to have means of imposing discipline" among the soldiers regarding their social media behaviour.
He, however, said he himself didn't possess a cellphone but that should not mean that his force should be denied of it.
"I don't have a cellphone and when someone asks me my cellphone number I just give them (any random number) 9868… and if it turns out to be an 11-digit number I just say cut the last digit.
"But we (the Indian Army) have to engage, remain engaged and benefit (from the use of social media).
"In modern day warfare, information warfare is important and within it, we have started talking about Artificial Intelligence. If we have to leverage Artificial Intelligence to our advantage, we must engage through the social media as a lot of what we wish to gain as part of Artificial Intelligence will come via social media."
The views by the Army Chief came months after the social media policy for soldiers was criticized when a senior Army officer was allegedly honey-trapped by an ISI agent through Facebook.
The Defence Ministry set out guidelines for the soldiers on the usage of the social media. They have been asked not to use photos in uniform as profile pictures on WhatsApp, Facebook or any other platforms.
The guidelines also bar them from clicking on advertisements on social media sites alluring for prizes/awards, exposing official identity, revealing their rank, unit name and location or anything related to their work, accepting friend request from unknown users.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
President Donald Trump threatens 100% tariff on foreign-made films
_vb_19.jpeg)
New York (AP): President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the US.
In a post on Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death," he wrote, complaining that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw" filmmakers and studios away from the US. "This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
It wasn't immediately clear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It's common for both large and smaller films to include production both in the US and other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," for instance, are shot around the world.
Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Yet tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelmingly dominate the domestic marketplace.
China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossing more than USD2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, in earned just USD20.9 million.
The Motion Picture Association didn't immediately respond to messages Sunday evening.
The MPA's data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced USD22.6 billion in exports and USD15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023.
Trump has made good on the “tariff man" label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened.
By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead.
Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas.
Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as “special ambassadors" to Hollywood to bring it "BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
US film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the US was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production.
The group's annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the US made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth, and New York ninth.
The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California's Film & Television Tax Credit program to USD750 million annually, up from USD330 million.
Other US cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to lure film and TV productions. Those programs can take the form of cash grants, as in Texas, or tax credits, which Georgia and New Mexico offer.
“Other nations have been stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday night after returning from a weekend in Florida. “If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States we should have a tariff on movies that come in."
