Do not sway poll process, Centre warns Facebook
NEW DELHI: The social media sites, particularly Facebook, have come under the scanner of government for an alleged attempt to influence India’s electoral process by selling the data of users.
In a stern warning to social media sites, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that the government would take “strong action” against Facebook if needed.
The warning has been issued after it came to the notice that Facebook allegedly sold the data of up to 50 million Facebook users to Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting company without permission, which was used to help politicians, including US President Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign.
Issuing the warning, the IT minister said, “Mark Zuckerberg, you better know the observation of IT Minister of India. If any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of Facebook systems, it will not be tolerated. We have got stringent powers in the IT Act, including summoning you in India.”
Prasad also stressed that any attempt to influence India’s electoral process would be dealt with firmly. “We support the free exchange of ideas on social media, but any attempt by social media including Facebook of trying to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will not be tolerated. Let Facebook note it very clearly.”
“In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California,” the IT Minister said.
Stressing that 20 crore Indians are on Facebook, the IT Minister said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi always tells his cabinet colleagues
to remain digitally as well as physically connected.”
Underlining that social media majors must follow all norms, the minister said, “Facebook knows my power. We didn’t permit them free basics. And Facebook will also need to recognise that I understand that Facebook has got the biggest footprint in India.”
Given that India doesn’t have data protection law in place, incidents like data breaching would recur, a cyber expert said, adding that government must have robust
regulations in place before issuing such ‘stern’ warnings.
Replying to a question on data protection law, the minister said that the process was on to bring a strict law to check such activities.
The minister’s stern message has come after Britain’s Channel 4 alleged New York-based data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica (CA), harvested private data of Facebook users in 2014 to influence elections in several countries in 2014, the year India went to the polls.
Mark Zuckerberg, you better know the observation of IT Minister of India. If any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of Facebook systems, it will not be tolerated — Ravi Shankar Prasad It’s alleged that Facebook sold data of up to 50 million Facebook users to Cambridge Analytica without permission The data was used to help politicians, including US President Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign India doesn’t have data protection law in place