Social Media Monitoring in India: A Circumstantial Analysis

Cyber-security has become a prime concern in the present society. Social media has emerged as a newer form of media through which people can communicate with their family, peers, friends etc. It is being heavily used in business and political activities as well. The impact of social media nowadays is extremely significant. Therefore, the same is being used in almost every walks of life. Though it provides so much ease to the users it also needs to be controlled. The monitoring of social media has become significant especially when people do not understand the repercussions of their acts. It has been observed recently that people have started using social media for malicious activities too. Scores of criminal acts have been registered which was done with the help of social media. Therefore, monitoring or scrutiny of what people are doing on social media has become indispensable. In India, the Information Technology Act, 2000 has been amended wherein section 66-A has been inserted in the mentioned Act in order to check the wrongdoings of people. This paper is aimed to deliberate and discuss how social media is being monitored in India.