CBI asks for new media policy to reach out to citizens

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has advised the Centre to turn social media into an “ally”, a suggestion that runs contrary to the opinion of the Intelligence Bureau and the home ministry that have come down strongly on social media for posing a threat to law and order.

Deliberations at the conference of DGPs in Delhi last November had focused on misuse of social media, with Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde asking for checking the “mischievous” use of social media websites that foment trouble and IB chief SA Ibrahim even making out a case for bringing foreign content providers such as Facebook and Twitter under the ambit of Indian law. But the CBI has said that besides monitoring social media, the government also needs a policy for using this new media for reaching out to citizens.




ET has accessed a detailed presentation made by the CBI at the conference on November 21 where it admitted to the security challenges posed by social media but pointed to the opportunity with the law enforcers of “leveraging social media to turn the tables on terrorists and criminals”. The CBI told the home ministry that it needed to come up with a new policy for using social media for outreach and develop protocols for the use of social media networks for collection of information and intelligence from public.

The CBI cited examples of the New York Police, Boston Police and Toronto Police using social media for citizen outreach and investigative purposes.

As per the presentation, ten major cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, are using social media for citizen engagement in traffic regulation while some individual police officers are using social media platform for giving access to common people.

A home ministry official told ET that it was suggested that major police organisations should officially embrace social networks. CBI also suggested 24x7 monitoring mechanisms of social media at the central and state levels.