Govt to use pvt agency to monitor online activities

The Modi government will purportedly engage a private agency to monitor and collect “digital media chatter” from all core social media platforms to give a positive slant to 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.’

The proposed platform will also be used to meet the crisis situations in the country.

The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited has recently floated a tender on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry, to power a real-time ‘New Media Command Room’ to be set up under the I&B ministry.

The proposed deployment of analytics software and tools is not only expected to scrape the social media accounts of the individuals or groups to provide deep insight into the trends but also expected to predict the headlines of the newspapers and news channels across the globe, including India.

As per the tender document, the prospective agency will deploy 20 executives to conduct social media “chatter” scraping and analysis from the command centre in Delhi and one social media executive in each of the 716 districts across the country.

The predictive analysis feature of the tools should be able to suggest the government as to “how could the public perception be moulded in a positive manner for the country,” according to the tender document.

‘Nationalistic feelings’

It is also expected to tell the government as to “how could nationalistic feelings be inculcated in the masses and how could the social media and internet news/discussions be given a positive slant for India.”

“How can the perception management of India be improved at the world fora and how could the media blitzkrieg of India’s adversaries be predicted and replied/neutralised,” are the other questions that the prospective agency should be able to answer on a regular basis through the deployment of its analytics software and tools.

The move comes at a time when the Narendra Modi government has entered the final year of its term.