MHA, States rope in 54,800 private persons to flag unlawful content on Internet: report

Indian Ministry of Home Affairs enlists 54,800 cyber crime volunteers to report unlawful content online, aiding law enforcement efforts.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs and various State governments have roped in around 54,800 persons as cyber crime volunteers to flag unlawful content on the Internet, according to the Ministry’s annual report for the year 2023-24.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry launched the programme in 2020 aiming to “bring together citizens with passion to serve the nation on a single platform and contribute in fight against cybercrime in the country.”

According to I4C, the Cyber Volunteer Framework enables citizens to enrol as cyber volunteers for reporting unlawful content, dissemination of cyber hygiene, and as cyber expert to aid law enforcement.

The report stated that 54,833 cyber volunteers have been enrolled, including 22,942 for reporting unlawful content, 22,071 awareness promoters and 9,819 experts.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a digital liberties organisation, had criticised the scheme stating that it will lead to a “culture of surveillance and constant suspicion in society creating potential social distrust.”

A student at a Central university in Gujarat who volunteers with the I4C, said that during the G-20 conference last year in India, he along with others flagged several cyber-attacks on government websites and servers.

“Government websites were being targeted and the country’s flag on the websites were being defaced by hackers. A coordinated attack was launched and we flagged it to the 14C,” said the volunteer.