Banning social media is not an option (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 4 : Security
Prelims level : Srilanka Attack
Mains level : Media role spreading terrorism

Context

• The terror attacks on multiple sites on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.
• It was commendable to see the country’s leaders take responsibility for the tragedy and the failure of the state in protecting its citizens, especially since no one in India has taken responsibility for recent attacks, including in Pulwama in February.
• The Sri Lankan leaders also went a step further.
• On April 28, in a fine gesture of unity, which is absent in the polarised polity of India, President Maithripala Sirisena from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Prime Minister Ranil Wickermesinghe from the United National Party, and Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna attended a Mass led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo.

A strategy learnt from India

• However, what the Sri Lankan authorities did not do right was to ban social media.
• Daniel Funke and Susan Benkelman, researchers at Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network and the American Press Institute’s Accountability Project, point out that turning off the Internet has become the Indian government’s favoured strategy to slow the spread of misinformation.
• They say that Sri Lanka has borrowed that strategy from India. According to a Freedom House study, ‘The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism’, India leads the world in the number of Internet shutdowns, with over 100 reported incidents in 2018 alone.

Social media can be useful

• Disinformation is indeed a menace. For instance, the international news agency AFP published a story headlined, “No, this is not a photo of the youngest victim of the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka”.
• Its fact-check team not only proved that the claim was false, but also established that the image was posted online nearly a year prior to the April 21 attacks.

Conclusion

• It is in this context that Sanjana Hattotuwa’s observation gains credence.
• Mr. Hattotuwa, an expert on digital media, told the BBC that as time goes on, the ban could actually hinder the useful role that social networks could play.
• “The longer the block is in place, the more debilitating it becomes for families grieving in this unprecedented time to communicate with each other,” he said.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to Office of Profit, consider the following statements:
1. It is defined in the Indian Constitution.
2. The opinion of Election Commission is binding on President if a question arises
to disqualify a member on ground of holding office of profit.
3. Recently, first time in India MLAs were disqualified on the ground of holding office of profit.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 3 only

Answer: A

Mains Questions:
Q.1) Sri Lankans are unable to find out the truth about what is happening in their country. Comment