Maneka Gandhi defends anti-trolling move, says won't patrol the net

Responding to criticism of its anti-trolling move, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday said that the ministry’s attempt to check trolling will not imply online policing or blanket patrolling of the internet.

National Commission for Women Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam had raised strong objections when the panel was asked to monitor cases of online abuse.

She had told PTI "You can’t police the net. It is an open space, it is like a galaxy almost. There are billions of twitter accounts and no organisation can keep an eye on Twitter. It is not physically possible for anybody to say we are following everybody’s twitter".

On Friday, through a series of tweets, the ministry clarified its stance.

“There will be no patrolling on the internet. The unit will only respond to complaints made by affected women through email. The only time we will respond is when we receive complaints about abusive behaviour, harassment, hateful conduct,” the tweets from the ministry said.

After receiving several tweets by men who were concerned about the move, the ministry said that "the question is not of men or women, but of egregious violence."

Maneka Gandhi also met social networking site Twitter India’s Head of Public Policy, Mahima Kaul.

There was also a meeting between the cyber crime department and ministry officials.

As per discussions, Twitter India will now appoint “a dedicated contact person to whom the ministry can direct complaints of trolling on Twitter," a source said.

“Complaints received by the ministry, which are of a grave nature, will be reported to Twitter for action.

"The Ministry will also work with cyber-crime cell wherever required,” said a press statement of the ministry.

The ministry has broadly defined three different categories of complaints on which it will take action and this will include abusive behaviour, harassment and hateful conduct.

“The ministry will also create a separate e-mail id by for complaints about online abuse,” a source said.