Misuse of social media blamed for communal flare-up in Andhra

Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh’s police chief Monday said misuse of social networking sites is resulting in communal flare-up in the state.

Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy voiced concern over the use of social media by some people to hurt the religious sentiments of others.

He did not agree that communalism is on the rise in the state but when his attention was drawn to series of communal clashes in towns, he attributed this to “technological advancements which people are resorting to” and misuse of social networking site Facebook to instigate communal flare-ups.

Reddy said the cyber crime cell of the police was trying to identify people who are campaigning on social networks so that it works a deterrent and it was also asking the social website to remove such content.

“There is not much in our hands because the social network providers are based outside India,” he said.

The DGP said this problem has to be addressed by social network providers.

“The social media have to have a social responsibility. Just because people have access to it, it should not be misused and that is what happening now,” he added.

He said the police were only appealing to people not to misuse social network and to social network providers to think in terms of certain self-controls.