TMC MP Derek O’Brien seeks Parliamentary panel probe into 'Tek Fog' app

With a media report claiming that the BJP IT Cell using an App to manipulate trends and sending messages through inactive WhatsApp accounts, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien has demanded that a Parliamentary panel look into the use of ‘Tek Fog’ as it is a “severe danger” to national and citizens’ security.

O’Brien wrote to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Chairman Anand Sharma asking him to take up the issue in the next meeting of the multi-party panel, as it is “imperative” that the panel takes cognizance of the issue as it concerns national security.

“The existence and usage of manipulative technologies like Tek Fog is a severe danger to national and citizens’ security, a violation of our Fundamental Rights to Privacy and Free Speech, an exploitation of public discourse, and a defilement of the country's democracy and security,” he wrote in the letter.

His letter came as news portal The Wire reported that the BJP IT Cell was purportedly using the controversial App and allegedly hijacking trending topics on social media platforms like Twitter and taking control of inactive WhatsApp accounts and sending messages to frequently contacted numbers of the account among other things.

O’Brien said the use of the App, which is a “social media manipulator and hijacker software”, has “serious ramifications and could jeopardise national security”. He said App is capable of “penetrating encrypted messaging platforms and secure social media conversations, in order to heavily manipulate and exploit narratives on said platforms”.

According to the report, Tek Fog can generate artificial retweeting and sharing through its auto-retweet or auto-share feature that could result in doctoring trending topics. Those using the App can bypass programming as well as the verification process to activate dormant WhatsApp accounts. The App also allows any evidence of the activities it undertook.

“It is imperative that this matter be taken cognizance of, by the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs which deals with matters of national security,” O’Brien said, seeking to discuss the matter in the “forthcoming meeting” of the committee.

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