No proposal 'to invade' one's right to privacy: Rathore

The Centre on Thursday told Lok Sabha that there was no proposal “to invade” an individual’s right to privacy and the right to freedom of speech in the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry's plan to set up a “social media communication hub.”

Replying to a written question in the Lower House, I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore also said that there was no proposal “at present” to install a chip in the television set-top boxes to ascertain the viewership data.

“There is no proposal to invade an individual’s right to privacy, and the right to freedom of speech,” he told the Parliament members.

The government has proposed to set up a social media hub to facilitate information flow regarding its policies and programmes through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and others, he added.

This comes following a row over the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) recently floating a tender on behalf of the I&B ministry for engaging a private agency to monitor and collect “digital media chatter” from all core social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.“

The move, according to the tender document, seeks to give a positive slant” to the news and discussions for India and inculcate “nationalistic feelings in the masses.”

The agency, proposed to be engaged for the purpose, will also collect and analyse real-time data from various other digital platforms like news portals, blogs and forums and e-mails, through the deployment of a high-powered 'Social Media Analytics Software and Tools.'

Recently hearing a petition on the move, the Supreme Court expressed serious concern on the Union government's move to set up a social media communication hub to monitor online contents, saying if they want to see every single Tweet and Whatsapp message, it would be like creating a surveillance state.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud sought the government's response within two weeks on a petition filed by TMC MLA Mahua Moitra.

The court also sought assistance from Attorney General K K Venugopal and put the matter for consideration on August 3, days before the government intended to open the bid for social media communication hub.

“Tracking and regulating social media contents will transform us into a surveillance state,” the bench said, putting the government's move under the scanner.