Parliamentary Panel Suggests Banning Whatsapp, Facebook Rather Than Shutting Internet
New Delhi, 3rd December 2021: The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology in its report on ‘Telecom Service/Internet Suspension and its Effects’ has said that, ”Instead of shutting down the Internet, the government should explore the option of shutting down the social media platforms, which are particularly vulnerable to terrorist or anti-national forces in times of crisis and are used to create unrest in the areas.”
The committee has suggested that the government should conduct a comprehensive study to explore such a possibility, so that, the impact of the internet service shutdown on the economy can be assessed and how it can be effectively dealt with in case of public safety and emergency.
The committee talked about the selective shutdown of the service saying that ”If the Department of Telecommunications explores the options of shutting down services like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. instead of completely shutting down the Internet, then it will be a big relief. This will not affect financial services, health, education, and other services.
Apart from this, there will be a minimum inconvenience to the common people during unrest or disturbance and the spreading of rumours will also be curbed.”
The committee has also emphasized that the department should immediately look into the suggestion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) and formulate such a policy so that instead of selectively shutting down the OTT service, other social media platforms, which are used by terrorists in times of crisis, should be banned and thus become tools of anti-national forces.
