Social media platforms must follow law of the land; Twitter adopting double standards, slams Centre

Prasad also appreciated Koo, a home-grown alternative to Twitter, in Parliament

Amid a tussle between the central government and Twitter over blocking of accounts, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said social media platforms must follow the law of the land and warned of strict action against them if they failed to stop spreading fake news and fuelling violence.

"We respect social media a lot, it has empowered common people. Social media has a big role in the Digital India programme. However, if social media is misused to spread fake news and violence, then action will be taken, be it Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp," said the minister said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.

Read: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad praises Koo — India's alternative to Twitter

Slamming Twitter, he said the company is adopting the double standards while condemning the violence.

"When there is violence in US Capitol Hill, social media platforms encourage police investigation but when Red Fort is breached, the same platforms go against the Government of India.

"Red Fort is the symbol of our pride. We won't allow these double standards in the country. What is this? You are trending hashtags supporting genocide?" the minister said.

"You have crores of followers. Make money but you have to abide by the Constitution of India and laws of India," the minister said.

The minister's warning came in the background of ongoing tussle between the government and Twitter over blocking of 1,400 microblogging accounts, which the government says engaged in provoking protesting farmers.

Prasad hails Koo

"Koo is a made-in-India app that has become a toast for success today and we should be proud of it. It is a matter of pride for me that Indians are heading so many multi-technology companies. Let us salute the extraordinary courage of our start-ups," Prasad said during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Wednesday used Koo to post a message and expressed its displeasure over Twitter blogpost.

For the past few days, many Union ministers and government departments have opened their accounts in Koo.

Even several BJP leaders openly called for support to Koo, to counter Twitter.

Koo, which is one of the winners in the 'Social category' of the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge', has witnessed a 10-fold surge in its downloads in the past two days.