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India has warned social media giant Facebook against any data breach or attempt to influence India’s electoral process.
British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica is accused of illegally harvesting data of about 50 million Facebook users. The company shot to fame after it helped Donald Trump win his 2016 presidential bid.
Cautioning the company, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of IT and Law & Justice, said the matter had become critical in India, too because Cambridge Analytica had admitted to be involved in influencing elections on Britain’s Channel 4 News.
“Recently we saw how social media was used to create social unrest before the Gujarat elections. Now Karnataka elections are coming up and therefore use of such rogue foreign companies by a political party for influencing elections becomes a big concern,” the Minister said.
‘Congress in advanced talks’
He accused the Congress of links with Cambridge Analytica. “My question to the Congress party is whether, to win elections, it will depend on data manipulation and theft? What is the role of Cambridge Analytica in the social media profile of Rahul Gandhi?” Prasad questioned.
Reports had alleged that Cambridge Analytica used data mined from Facebook in the voter research it conducted for Trump.
“It has become a big issue across – from London to Atlantic and whole of America – and the company openly boasting on Channel 4 News that ‘we are influencing across the globe’, and the fact that the Congress party is in advance talks with this company (Cambridge Analytica), to engage its services. It has become a very sensitive issue,” Prasad said.
He said the self-admission by the company (Facebook) in a Channel 4 News rightly underscore and highlight the need for greater vigilance in India.
“We will keep a close watch. When it comes to manipulation of India’s democratic polity and as far as the free choice is concerned, it is not negotiable and won’t be tolerated,” the Minister said, adding that use of platform is one thing, but its abuse is quiet another.
To settle such issues, there could be new ombudsmen to look after under the IT Ministry, or the Election Commission. Authorities like telecom regulator TRAI can also look into the issue because data breach is a very important subject.
“We uphold the use of social media and it has empowered every citizen who can ask us questions directly now. But, abuse of social media that too by using foreign firms will not be acceptable,” Prasad added.
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