New Delhi: Criticising the brand new middleman guidelines for social media as “draconian”, the Congress on Wednesday demanded that the federal government shed its “Big Daddy” method and never stifle free speech and expression that are like oxygen in a democracy. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi alleged that the brand new guidelines are aimed at terrorising the social media and strangulating free thought and expression within the area which “the BJP and the Modi government now see as a threat to them”.
He, nevertheless, mentioned the Congress has not taken a coverage resolution but on whether or not to maneuver court docket in opposition to the brand new guidelines. “This is complete censorship, complete thought control, complete terrorising of the social media and complete control freak,” he informed reporters.
He mentioned free speech and expression, together with on messaging platforms on social media, “is the vital oxygen for democracy” to allow it to outlive. “We implore you Modi ji, we implore you BJP, one oxygen during COVID times you have diminished, please don’t do it to the oxygen of democracy… Please don’t strangulate it, please don’t asphyxiate it,” he mentioned.
The Congress chief alleged that the brand new guidelines have hit a extreme blow to the colourful tradition of discourse, deliberations and dissent in a democracy like India. “The new intermediary rules are dire, drastic and draconian in nature. The issuance of new guidelines reflects that the BJP government is suffering from the ‘Big Daddy’ syndrome and North Korean approach to free speech,” Singhvi mentioned.
On a potential authorized problem, he mentioned, “No policy decision has been taken on whether to move court or not. We may or may not go to court.” However, the Congress will educate society and inform folks what this authorities is doing and what’s its thought course of, he mentioned. Questioning the federal government, he mentioned it can not dictate to anybody which social media platforms to make use of and requested “whether we were living in China or a dictatorial regime like North Korea”.
He mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a “master” of the social media platform and flaunted it. “You have to take the good and the bad together. You can’t want only the good and deny the bad. That only an ostrich can do with the head in the sand,” he mentioned. He mentioned that Rule 4 obliges all social media platforms to establish the primary originator of the data if that’s the case directed by the federal government beneath Rule 4(2) and this introduces the requirement of traceability which might break end-to-end encryption. “End-to-end encryption is the technological backbone of privacy,” he famous, asserting that the Congress condemns such guidelines by any authorities.
Singhvi additionally mentioned the celebration was not happy with the motion taken by Twitter, because it believes the motion must be in opposition to many others.
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