TAKE REFUGE UNDER TECHNOLOGY
The day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that a piece of single fake news has the capability to snowball into a matter of national concern, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the internet and social platforms have become potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorists. Both these statements calls for the government to exploit the latest technology for ensuring that no entity whether internal or foreign could dent the interests of the country by fake and fabricated content or by misleading the people to create fissures among individuals and the society as a whole. As in the past, the fake messages have led to social disturbances in the country and were the reason behind discord among societies it is necessary that content shared on the social media sites is monitored because this mode of communication cannot be left unchecked looking into the potential it had to flare up situations at times. The other issue which the EAM Jaishankar has raised at UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee’s special meet on ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’ was about the internet and social platforms becoming potent instruments for spreading propaganda, radicalization and conspiracy theories aiming at destabilizing societies. The important aspect which the EAM has touched during the meeting was UN Security Council’s efforts to counter terrorism effectively leading to putting certain countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a State-funded enterprise. There is no doubt that terrorism today depends more on internet and its allied accessories and therefore technological interventions have become necessary to stop the violence mongers across the world from turning this beautiful world into the land of death and destruction. The gravity of the problem to handle social media and other internet tools can be well gauged by the fact that both PM and EAM have stressed on using technology to stop this menace as far as possible. It is therefore duty of the technical savvy fraternity to help the country in a coordinated manner to combat this relatively new threat and ensure safety and security of the country, which is first and foremost concern of every Indian at the moment.