IT Minister asks officials to ensure data security on social media

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked top officials of his ministry to take steps to prevent misuse of personal data of a user on social media to influence elections.

The minister, who held a meeting with his officials on Thursday, directed the officials to probe the allegation of misuse of users' data stored in the social media giants and take steps to prevent any misuse in future.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology may also engage TRAI on the issue said an official in the IT Ministry adding that the government is exploring all steps to protect the user information from misuse without harming the growth of social media networks in the country.

With several global internet giants having a large footprint in India, the government wants companies should have adequate firewalls and data should be protected, said an official.

The IT Minister held a meeting with officials on the issue after the row over the London based firm Cambridge Analytica harvested user data of 50 million Facebook users to influence and identity voter behaviour in several countries.

Earlier this week, Prasad had warned social media giant Facebook of "stringent" action for any attempt to influence polls through data theft and had even threatened to summon its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, if needed.