From fake news to mob violence: Social media to face more scrutiny in 2019
With great power comes great responsibility. The quote made popular by the iconic comic series 'Spider-Man' sums up the challenges that social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook are facing in India. They have been accused of being a carrier of hate messages and fake news that incited mob violence. And, now they stare at the prospects of stricter government rules, greater accountability and regulatory scrutiny. These platforms, for some of whom India is the biggest consumer base outside of their home country, can see very much clear the writing on the wall -- follow the rules of engagement if you want to be in the world's fastest growing economy. The year 2018 will go down in history as the one where social networking platforms not only made country-specific changes -- be it labelling forwarded messages, limiting the number of people a user can send a message to at one go and launching public awareness campaign against fake news. They also agreed...