Need to regulate social media, says Khurshid

Lauding the effectiveness of social media, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said the freedom that comes out of using it needs to be regulated.

"Social media is effective today because we are equal. It is the equality of social media and your ability to manipulate and use technology that gives you the freedom -- a freedom which then, perhaps, needs to be regulated. It needs to be regulated because every freedom has to be regulated," Khurshid said in Kolkata. 

Speaking on the topic of freedom vs equality at The Telegraph National Debate in Kolkata on Saturday night, he said, "I have never known of equality being regulated but I have known of every freedom (being regulated)."

"Please read the Constitution and if you are a true Indian, please bow to the Constitution which says reasonable restriction on all your freedom - on your freedom of speech, freedom of work, freedom of action," the senior Congress leader said.

During the debate, where other politicians like Corporate Affairs minister Sachin Pilot and BJP's senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad also participated, it was announced that the views expressed by the speakers were personal and might not reflect the views of the party or government.

Advocating the setting up of an Equal Opportunities Commission, Khurshid, who had earlier held the post of minority affairs minister, said they are facing difficulties n establishing it.

"I think that this is the greatest idea that we can have in our society today. There is difficulty in pushing it and sometimes I wonder is it that I am not being able to explain it to some of my colleagues on the other side -- Ravi Shankar Prasad or your party (BJP)," he said.

"Are you confusing this with equal commission for opportunities? Are you actually thinking that this is about equal commission for opportunities? I want to assure you that this is not about equal commissions but about equal opportunities," Khurshid said.