AMN / NEW DELHI
India has warned against social media data misuse ahead of elections. Union Information technology minister today warned Facebook of stringent legal action against any misuse of data of Indians on its platform.
Warning came following reports that a British consultancy improperly accessed information on millions of Facebook users to target U.S. voters.
“Abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections,” Ravi Shankar Prasad told media persons.
“In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California. Any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor be permitted.”
We welcome the fact that @facebook has one of the highest number of users from India but if any theft of data of Indians takes place in collusion with other companies for manipulation of democratic processes then that will not be tolerated. #FacebookDataBreach pic.twitter.com/OBdv2vN7Ho
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) March 21, 2018
Meanwhile Facebook said Prasad had raised several important questions and the company appreciates his attention to this matter.
“We will continue to engage with the government on this matter. We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect peoples’ information and will take whatever steps are required that this happens,” the company said in a statement.
British consultancy Cambridge Analytica has denied media accusations that it improperly accessed millions of Facebook users’ information and said it deleted the data after learning that it did not adhere to data protection rules.
Minister also questioned the alleged links between the Congress and Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm accused of harvesting personal information from Facebook illegally to influence polls in several countries.
Ravi Shankar Prasad cited media reports about the Congress’ plan to use the firm’s services for the next Lok Sabha elections and to boost its president Rahul Gandhi’s profile.
He said, the firm has been accused of using sleaze and fake news to influence elections and asked if the Congress too plans to walk the same path.
Mr. Prasad also warned Facebook of stringent legal action against any misuse of data of Indians on its platform.
Congress has denied its links with Cambridge Analytica.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi today, party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the BJP of producing and setting fake agendas.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the government will conduct a probe into allegations of data theft to bring out the truth.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi, he said the government will not take the matter lightly.
Mr Patra also rejected the allegation that BJP had taken service of this company during 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He also accused Congress of compromising people’s personal data for political gains.
