Andhra Pradesh government contemplating setting up a social media monitoring centre

Incidents such as the Agniveer riots in Secunderabad and violence in Konaseema spread like wildfire because of the inflammatory posts in the social media, and the idea is to prevent such instances even before they go out of hand, says Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Rajendranath Reddy

Keeping in mind the rising instances of cybercrime and extensive use of social media to perpetrate the crime, the State government is contemplating starting a social media monitoring centre.

The idea is still in the nascent stage, and various issues are being dealt with, including talking to the service providers, various companies that operate the social media sites and, most importantly, the legality in its scope of operation.

“Basically, we will focus on what is in the public domain without infringing on the privacy rights,” says Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police K.V. Rajendranath Reddy.

Speaking to The Hindu recently, Mr. Rajendranath Reddy particularly referred to the cases such as the Secunderabad ‘Agniveer riots’ and the violence in Konaseema district.

“The riots and the unrest spread like wildfire due to the inflammatory posts in the social media. Anything that can cause unrest in society or harm to a person will be dealt with before they can become harmful,” the DGP said.

In the recent times, it was observed that most of the grievous crimes, including housebreakings, and rape and murder had been committed by rowdy-sheeters who were out on bail.

The recent kidnapping of YSRCP Visakhapatnam MP’s son, wife and auditor was an act of the rowdy-sheeters. One of them had about 13 pending cases and another over 40 cases, including kidnap and murder, he said.