Centre's Strike On Social Media

People who used social media for their own ends later realised that it is a two-edged weapon, and not always, but sometimes, the government, despite its very well-organised IT cell, had to face a tough time countering criticism on social media, the source says. To counter this, the government has decided to take drastic measures to prevent content flagged by government monitoring agencies, the source reports. The government has amended the IT Act and now requires social media operators to remove content from their platforms within 2-3 hours of receiving a requisition from a government authority, a source says. Previously, it was 36 hours, according to the source. The new regulation will take effect on 20th February, according to the source. 

All social media operators have objected to this new rule and labelled it the killing of free expression, according to a source. The operators say they have a well-established mechanism to examine the site's contents. After careful review and adherence to the respective governments' guidelines, the contents are either allowed to remain or deleted; however, the government-set timeline will now be difficult to adhere to, the source says. Previously, these operators have also objected to the government's flood of requests to remove content, the source say. However, strict regulations will help in imposing caution on these platforms and also acting  potential deterrent  curb cyber crime that happens on the social media spectrum