Social Media may not be right all the time

I know many people, who do not believe facts shown or covered on TV, but they trust things in print media so strongly that they swear by it. But social media is some thing which people believe to great extant, in fact whenever one decides to buy some stuff, enjoy food, going to movie he or she definitely like to see online reviews, recommendations. In fact after android handset become affordable, majority of Indians prefer to connect to the net via phone.

But of late, the social media has become a platform for reactive, knee jerk responses supporting or declaiming lies and half truths or innocuous happenings, all of which amplify into cacophony, often it results that leaves many lives shattered. Some recent instances indicate worst fear that all is not well on social media.

Let me first start with Facebook pages of political parties, these are constantly targeted by opponent 

sympathisers or opponent parties war or hate mongers who keep on posting nasty, four letter foul remarks. I see more of such remarks on Indian National Congress's official FaceBook page where so called nationalists keep on lampooning and caricaturing party' s leaders instead of any sensible arguments. Then there are BJP and its allied organisation's FB pages where you will find explicit filthy remarks by some Muslim names just possible that it's source may be across the border.

Then there is a controversy created because of a video of two sisters from Rohtak which shows some rarest of rare images-two brave young girls fighting off purported molesters in a bus. After seeing this video, which became viral in few hours, Haryana's newly elected CM declared cash rewards for the two  girls fighting off so called molesters and hailed the girls an example of women resisting and demeaning male stalkers also intention to honor them on forthcoming Republic Day Parade. The follow up story gleefully tagged Bravehearts, brought out a less heroic tale. The boys who were beaten in the bus did not molest them but we're pounced upon to settle an argument over us seats. The girls were honored without verifying the facts, the poor boys were rejected summarily from applying in the Indian Army. If the feedback from the co passengers of the bus is correct then the boy may be cleared from the false charges but the damage is done, it is a trial without verifying the facts, just on the basis of a viral video.

In an other  recent instance, on the basis of a video posted on social media, Ms Aayenah Pahuja was fired by Doordarshan, she was traumatised to such an extant that feeling sucidal. Her family approached the Cybercrime Department so that the video to be taken off but new people keep uploading the video. She was anchoring International Film Festival from Panjim for Doordarshan and made some laughable gaffes which include calling Goa Governor as Governor of India and failing to identify some of the big stars of Festival whom she interviewed with inane questions.

Now the big question is to create a mechanism to regulate the spontaneous outpouring of emotions on social media that adversely affect private lives of private individuals often tragically. If the decision is left with State, it is also fraught with grave risk. A 30 something blogger Soheil Aarabi has been sentenced to death for insulting prophet of Islam. Though he did not made any grave thing. You may remember a similar case in India in which Police registered a criminal case against a 21 year old women for posting an objection to the Shiv Sena closing down the metropolis after death of party supremo Bal Thakerey in 2012. The case was finally withdrawn after outcry by sensible print media campaign and police man involved were in fact punished.

There are cases where individuals have been stalked, harassed or blackmailed via net. however the virtual mob that the net creates around often contentious subjects with summary judgements passed on individuals without cross checking the facts. it is a big problem. There is another issue, the net's geography without international borders makes some oft used laws of crowd control completely outdated.

So to my mind, internet is like a over crowded and uncontrolled highway where any body can met an accident without his or her own fault and bully may run scot free. These are hazards come embedded with wonder of century which has remarkably improved our life. We have no choice but to live with it.