Misinformation exploited by India's enemies to fan unrest: Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Noida: Misinformation is a "dangerous phenomenon" which has been exploited by other countries and the enemies of India to create social division and unrest, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said here Thursday when asked about the government's action on news portal NewsClick.

He said Internet platforms need to be "extra" careful and ensure that citizens who consume information from online sources are not misled, provoked or incited by people deliberately propagating misinformation against India and Indians.

The Minister of State for Information Technology also said the Centre has resolved to make Internet "safe and trustworthy" for Indian users.

He made the remarks during his visit to the launch of the sixth edition of 'Infinity 2023', the annual technology conference of private Amity University, Noida.

Chandrasekhar said currently, 83 crore Indians are using the Internet and by 2025-26, this number would rise to 124 crore with people using it to avail subsidies, pension, information, run startups etc.

"Our government has resolved that as the number of Internet users grows in the country, our priority is to keep Internet safe and trustworthy for our digital citizens," the MoS for IT told reporters.

"This also includes cybercrime, misinformation and CSAM (child sexual abuse material). Recently we cracked down on CSAM because a lot of material about child pornography was on platforms and we warned them clearly of zero tolerance. We will not allow any such platform to work in India and block them if they don't clean up their platforms," Chandrshekhar said.

Asked about the government action on news portal NewsClick, he said misinformation is a "dangerous phenomenon" which has been exploited by other countries and enemies of India to create social division and unrest.

"It ranks in our framework as equally dangerous, equally criminal and equally harmful content for platforms to curate and moderate. We have already put this under IT rules and IT Act. These are the areas that the platforms need to take extra care and ensure that our citizens who consume information on internet are not misled, provoked or incited in any manner by people who are deliberately propagating misinformation against India and Indians," the minister said.

Chandrasekhar said the vision presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'New India' provides the youth with a lot of opportunities.

He said the coming decade belongs to the country. "The youth have a key contribution in our resolve for new India, developed India," Chandrasekhar added.

The Delhi Police has arrested NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and human resources department head Amit Chakravarty in a case lodged under anti-terror law Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act.

The arrests were made last week after the Delhi Police Special Cell raided journalists and other staff of NewsClick over alleged illegal funding from China.