Need to keep social media free of toxicity, says defence minister

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday stressed the need to keep the social media “toxic-free” to build an intelligent and smart narrative for the country to progress fast.

“We should be the pioneers to make that place toxic-free. It should be an engagement forum, but without bitterness, toxicity, negativity,” she said, addressing the sixth Social Media Conclave, organised by an NGO — Namaste India. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav was also present on the occasion.

Sitharaman disagreed with the term “warriors” or “yoddhas” for those propagating government programmes on social media platforms and said she preferred to call them architects as they improved the ambience and beautified the surroundings.

“Architects do wonderful things to make our ambience, ecosystem better. They bring in more trees. I think, as architects of the social media, we should bring in more culture in the wonderful, technology-based, interaction fora -- whether it is Instagram, WhatsApp or Facebook, and a lot more. “We communicate better by bringing in a lot of facts. We get the reality in picture, in words...,” she said.

The defence minister reminded the audience that there were certain virtues India held for generations, which were missing today. “All of us are here for a common cause. We want a better India. All of us have got some exposure to how civic lives can be better, our individual lives can be better India,” she said.

Sitharaman acknowledged that there was a need for the country to move fast and in this context, said there should be an intelligent and smart narrative on the social media platforms, instead of “toxic discussions”. PTI

BENGALURU: SITHARAMAN SAID SOCIAL MEDIA SHOULD BE AN ENGAGEMENT FORUM, BUT WITHOUT TOXICITY, NEGATIVITY