The Hindu editorials 30th Aug 2019 Mains sure shot
GS-2 or 3 Mains
Question – what is the right way of regulating social media? Comment.
Context – The increasing instances of fake news leading to violence.
The present scenario:
- There has been a sharp increase in the number of people using messaging apps and also in fake news, rumour mongering leading to violence.
Regulating social media:
- When we talk of regulating social media, there are two things that need to be kept in mind. First, the right to online privacy and second, the right of the state to detect people who use the web to spread panic and commit crimes.
- Keeping these two rights in mind the Supreme Court recently stressed on the need to find a balance between the two.
- Now the question is that, at present, are the current regulations and the nature of internet platforms designed to maintain this balance?
Is technology the problem?
- Technology as it is is not the problem, but the purpose it is used for is the problem. It is the virality of the messages that makes fake news spread very fast.
- We cannot blame the technology for this because the virality of a news is also not new. It has been there right from the invention of the Gutenberg printing press. Mass circulation has always resulted in tension between people in power and others.
Some probable solutions:
- At present when one signs up to a messaging service like whatsapp for example, there is not a single page that displays in the local language about how one can report, in their own language, disinformation content and messages that are malicious or abusive. Displaying such information in the local language is very important. Especially for those who cannot understand English. If they can report news as fake early then the chances of it being reviewed and taken down before it gets viral increases.
- similarly, fact-checking websites, fake news busters and government sources don’t get the support they need to distribute their content to local users especially in interior areas.
- But these are technological solutions.
But is technological solution enough?
- Fake news – fake news is not something that has been invented in the digital age. It has been a long standing problem and to look to technical solutions to this cannot solve this problem entirely.
- The social media apps like whatsapp have taken steps to deal with this problem partly like limiting forwards to five people only. Similarly facebook and twitter have also acknowledged the problem of disinformation and taken steps accordingly.
- Professor Kamakotiti of IIT Madras had suggested to the Madras High Court of tracing origin of whatsapp messages.
- But his proposals have been criticised by other computer scientists. Professor Manoj Prabhakaran of IIT Bombay for example has argued against such models of traceability.
- It gives the government agencies to break end-to-end encryptions.
- Some argue that we shouldnt implement technological solutions as a panacea i.e. we cannot use technology as a solution for all kinds of problems, especially problems like fake news which spread not only through internet platforms but also other means of communication like print medium (newspapers etc).
Does the solution lie in setting regulatory guidelines?
- So the solution does not lie in technology nor does it lie in adding an extra layer of guidelines and liability for social media platforms and websites.
- There has been an increase in the number of regulatory guidelines issued by the government to enhance the agency of the government (i.e. the authority of the government) over technology companies. For example, there is a debate among government agencies calling for data localisation but we have to take notice of the fact that most of these companies like whatsapp, facebook and twitter are based abroad. It will affect their functioning.
- Also the judiciary said that making the social media platforms liable for the content posted by the users on them goes impacts free speech. How? It is because when they are made liable for punishment for the content posted by a user on their platform, then these platforms start monitoring all persons i.e. what they write on social media. And this affects our free speech.
- At present the government has very limited agency (authority) over these companies at the moment where as the number of users of these apps are increasing rapidly with the increased reach of the internet connectivity in India.
- The fact that the government doesn’t have proper agency (i.e. proper means) to regulate the content circulated is proved by the fact that the government at times has to complete internet shutdowns to prevent a situation from getting worse.
- Also in the Shreya Singhal judgement in 2015, the court said that if the government asks these platforms for a content to be taken down, that should be only via a court order or through a legal process. So when the government frames guidelines that the social media platforms should auto-filter the comments of the users goes against this judgement.
Is complete internet shutdown like in case of Kashmir a solution?/ Way forward:
- At present India doesn’t have enough agency (i.e. enough means) to regulate and keep a watch on messages that are being circulated on social media platforms. So to prevent a situation from getting worse, it has no other option than to make a complete shutdown.
- But there are other ways how it can be dealt with like the Telangana state has a cadre of officers who dedicate themselves to preventing the propagation of fake news through channels like whatsapp.
- So at present since the state doesn’t have much agency this can be a solution but more ideas need to be brought in about dealing with such problems.
No.2.
GS-3 Mains (Economy)
Note : The article ‘Tinkering for optics’ doesn’t have much content. These are the probable highlights:
- The article comments on announcement the eased FDI norms by the Central government.
- It says the eased FDI norms like extending the available 100% FDI under the automatic route in the coal mining sector (till now permitted only for captive consumption) to include those companies seeking to commercially sell the commodity, to distinctly including contract manufacturing under the automatic 100% route and easing local sourcing norms for overseas investors in the Single Brand Retail Trading (SBRT) business, shows the government’s concern about economic slowdown and weak foreign investments.
- These FDI norms have been undertaken to attract more foreign capital into sectors that it sees as having a multiplier effect, particularly in terms of job creation.
- But a closer examination, shows that certain factors have not been taken into account while making these changes.
- For example, the changes to investment norms on coal appear to be a win-win for both the economy at large and the coal industry, but the environmental costs of focusing on one of the most polluting fossil fuels has not been addressed.
- Also there have been a lot of progress in implementing modern technology in the mining sector but a focus on this area too has been neglected.
- Also large miners coming to India will need access to large fields without much bureaucratic hassles. This factor too has not not been clearly addressed.
- So the article finally says that even though FDIs come to India how much result it will produce is uncertain.
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