oppn parties 'Official' Cyber Vigilantism: Another Weapon To Crush Dissent

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'Official' Cyber Vigilantism: Another Weapon To Crush Dissent

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-02-13 03:15:12

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

If trolling and cyber-bullying were not enough, now vigilantism in India is moving online (offline, we have had cow vigilantes and others) and it is getting the official tag. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will introduce a new programme where citizen volunteers will scan social media and report child sexual abuse, rape, terrorism, radicalization and "anti-national" activities to the authorities. The project is being piloted in J&K and Tripura. Although vigilantes do exist in cyberspace, it is the first time such a huge army of 'official' vigilantes, with no legal backing, will be unleashed by the state on its own citizens.

If it goes through, this project will lead to consequences that the MHA cannot even begin to imagine. First, such policing is not sanctioned by any law in India and will be illegal and an intrusion on the privacy of citizens. Then, since what is "anti-national" is not defined in any law in India, such an exercise will leave it to an army of untrained and highly radicalized individuals to report what according to them is anti-national. It will pit citizen against citizen and will open the doors for unscrupulous people to settle scores with others. In short, the exercise is likely to become another weapon in the hands of the government to crush dissent and harass citizens.

Although the Supreme Court has repeatedly said that the right to freedom of speech and expression is not absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions, until and unless the term "anti-national" is clearly defined, going after people for what the government, and now an army of online vigilantes, consider anti-national is extremely dangerous. For, it has been seen in the past that the government equates any criticism of self as criticism of the nation. It has been using sedition laws selectively and vindictively to suppress dissent.

The Centre's current focus on social media is due to its wide reach, its power of mobilize people, even at short notice, and its power to highlight issues in India to foreign audiences though influencer interventions (as proved in case of tweets on the farm protests by Rihanna and Mia Khalifa recently). But India is a democracy and such policing will not work. If the voice of the people is suppressed online (by such vigilantism or through putting pressure on social media platforms or by withdrawing internet services), they will find other avenues to show their dissent. The government must put its views in public domain and let others put theirs. It has the people's mandate to govern. Then why is it so touchy about criticism? Why does it need and army of Big Brothers to keep tabs on its citizens?

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