Government wants Twitter misuse to be under check before elections
What's the story
The Indian government has asked Twitter to address the growing problem of social media misuse, especially ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the country. The Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had a conversation with Colin Crowell, Global Head of Policy at Twitter, about the same during the latter's ongoing visit to India.
Issue
Twitter shouldn't be used to derail democracy: IT Minister
Prasad wants the microblogging website to not be abused "by sinister forces that derail the fairness of democracy" during the elections. Raising concerns about the abuse of Twitter for encouraging communalism, hatred, and terrorism, Prasad said, "The government doesn't believe in control at all, and I have suggested that they should have a forum of an internal regulatory mechanism (to cut down on abuse)."
Response
We will make sure fair election process is reflected: Twitter
In response, Crowell assured that Twitter is challenging 6.4 million accounts every week to check if they are automated bots or real users. He said, "We are also doubling down on the commitment that we make in markets like India. We want to make sure that the elections are open, they are fair and that is reflected on Twitter."
Improvement
Twitter cracking down on malicious automation of accounts
According to Crowell, Twitter has taken down 10 times the number of accounts in 2017 as it had in 2016 and has been stopping 530K suspicious log-ins every day. He also emphasized that the social media platform has brought about 25 product and rule changes in the last one year to fight "malicious automation."
Information
How about Election Commission of India joining Twitter?
During the meeting, Prasad and Crowell discussed the need for local language adoption on Twitter. Interestingly, Crowell also suggested that the Election Commission of India should make an official account on Twitter, as it will help the latter interact directly with citizens during elections.