Social media gets trolled by leaders

NEW DELHI: The misuse of social media to fan communal riots came up as a major cause of concern at the NIC meet even as the Centre expressed its inability to quickly address the issue as most Internet Service Providers are not located in India.

J&K CM Omar Abdullah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav - who have both seen communal riots in Kishtwar and Muzzafarnagar respectively - made a strong case for toughening rules for social networking websites given their misuse in recent riots.

Yadav said there was no proper arrangement to stop circulation of objectionable material on social networking websites, as had been the case in Muzzafarnagar where riots spread due to a controversial MMS.

"To stop circulation of objectionable material on e-mail, SMS or MMS, it should be necessary that telecom operators and internet service providers have the capacity to stop their circulation in a specific area. It should also be possible to quickly track down the perpetrators of such material. The Centre should do something," Yadav said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned that it was important to ensure that anti-national elements don't misuse the social media for creating hatred among communities.