New social media rules draconian: Congress wants Modi government to shed its 'Big Daddy approach'

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi alleged that the new rules are aimed at terrorising the social media

The Centre's insistence on implementing the new digital rules has kicked up a row with the Opposition Congress drawing its parallel with the totalitarian North Korean model of controlled media and accusing the central government of having adopted a "Big Daddy" approach and trying to "stifle free speech".

"The new rules are a severe blow to the vibrant culture of discourse, deliberation and dissent in India. What the Modi government seeks to implement today, would make the North Korean model of the control of the media," said party spokesperson and senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi.

"End-to-end encryption is the technological backbone of privacy," he said, backing the WhatsApp contention before the Delhi High Court.

Also read — Centre asks social media companies to give compliance report of new rules 'preferably by today'

Noting that Rule 4 of the Social Media Intermediary rules 2021 obliges all social media platforms to identify the first originator of the information and would result in "breaking the end-to-end encryption", Singhvi called the provision "draconian".

He said free speech and expression which are like oxygen in a democracy will be stifled.

Also read — 'No fundamental right absolute': Centre responds to WhatsApp

Singhvi had invoked the North Korea imagery on Tuesday as well when a team of Delhi police had gone to Twitter headquarters to know why the microblogging site put BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra's tweets on the alleged "Congress toolkit" in the "manipulated media" category.

"North Korea is trending after the Government sends police to the office of online intermediary which allows them to express their opinion. Remember this is the same BJP that used Twitter to wrest public sentiment in their favour & against Congress in 2014. Hypocrisy ki bhi seema (There is a limit to hypocrisy),' he had said.

On Wednesday as the government made a strong defence of its new digital rules, asserting that it does not violate privacy, Singhvi alleged that the new rules are aimed at terrorising social media and strangulating free thought and expression.

"This is complete censorship, complete thought control, complete terrorising of the social media and complete control freak. The new intermediary rules are dire, drastic and draconian in nature. The issuance of new guidelines reflects that the BJP government is suffering from the Big Daddy syndrome," Singhvi alleged.

Also Read — WhatsApp case fuels fears over India's new social media rules

He said the new rules have meted out a severe blow to the vibrant culture of discourse, deliberations and dissent in a democracy like India.

Indicating that new digital rules will be another campaign issue of the party in days to come, he said the Congress will educate society and tell people what this government is doing and what its thought process is, even as he was evasive when asked whether the Congress will approach the court over the issue.