Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that he’s contemplating giving up on social media from March 8. In a tweet last night, PM Modi said he will likely give up his accounts on four global social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Reports, however, suggest that the PM might not go cold turkey on social media entirely. Instead, he might join some indigenous platform in what some free speech advocates are now fearing may be a precursor to banning, or at least imposing stronger regulations, on foreign social media platforms in the country.
This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted.
At a time when we should be debating how to repair fractured social relations, how prepared we are to deal with corona virus, how to revive the economy, we are now speculating why PM Modi may quit social media. Yeh hai ‘new’ politics, ‘new’ India, ‘new’ media!😊 have a good day!
The PM’s abrupt announcement has led many to worry whether it’s a prelude to banning these services throughout the country too. As @narendramodi knows well, social media can also be a force for good & for positive & useful messaging. It doesn’t have to be about spreading hate. https://t.co/B87Y7Mc32a
Give up hatred, not social media accounts. pic.twitter.com/HDymHw2VrB
According to IANS, some unnamed BJP leaders also confirmed that they have been receiving messages from the party’s IT wing urging workers and followers to join the NamoApp’s ‘swadeshi’ platform, ‘MyNetwork’. It isn’t immediately clear as to whether that will be the social media service that the PM will hitch his bandwagon to, but all roads seem to point in that direction for now.
