Social Media Algorithms Shouldn't Violate Fundamental Rights: Minister

The remarks by Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar come amid allegations of Facebook's system and algorithms fuelling hate speech and fake news.

No algorithm of any social media platform should violate fundamental rights of Indians, and the laws and jurisprudence would need to evolve continuously to keep pace with the changing nature of internet, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said.

The remarks by the Minister of State for IT come amid allegations of Facebook's system and algorithms fuelling hate speech and fake news.

Recently, revelations by whistle-blower Frances Haugen have led to global concerns that Facebook allegedly put profit before public good, and did not do enough to shed its ''growth at all costs'' culture that propelled its rise to capture 2.91 billion monthly active users globally, including over 400 million in India.

When asked about what action the Indian government would look at in the backdrop of the allegations made by the whistleblower, Mr Chandrasekhar said there are algorithms that are replacing human intervention and are also prone to failure.