WhatsApp under EC lens in J&K, J’khand
NEW DELHI: A popular free messaging service, WhatsApp, will be under the Election Commission’s scanner for messages that can disturb tranquillity of polls in poll-bound Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand.
Hate speeches, which were mass circulated in the recently concluded general elections, will be especially monitored.
Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath on Thursday said that action to block WhatsApp messages and other material on social media will be taken whenever there is complaint. “We will try our best to ensure that new media does not disturb the electoral process in any way,” he added.
In a first, the EC directed chief secretaries of the two states to ensure that a complaint is registered in a police station for obnoxious material on social media, including free messaging services. It also asked them to direct the service providers to block circulation of such messages if they vitiate the electoral level playing field.
T he poll- watchdo g will also take cognisance of such complaints if evidence is provided for violation of the model code and other provisions of the Representation of People’s Act (RPA).
The EC’s decision came after a number of parties complained that WhatsApp and other free messaging services had become a new mode of electioneering and was being used to polarise voters by circulating hate speeches.
The commission, before this summer’s general elections, had issued guidelines for social media websites and instructed the internet companies to comply with its directions. However, officials admitted that monitoring and compliance to the EC guidelines was a “tough” task.