The Communication and IT Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, on Thursday asked leading social networking firms Google, Facebook and Twitter to suggest ways for effective usage of these platforms for empowering the Government.

The Minister met representatives of the Internet firms for a round table conference in a bid to thrash out a consensus on social media usage.

Mr Sibal had earlier said that the Government would bring in guidelines to monitor content on social networking platforms if the Internet companies failed to self regulate.

After the round table meeting, Mr Sibal said “The Government has called for an open dialogue with the social media firms and asked for opinions on how social media and e-governance can empower individuals and citizens of this country.”

“This discussion and this dialogue is about how the social media can empower Government, because under the normal processes of Government, there is always a limited dialogue with representatives of society because the means are limited,” he added.

Mr Sibal, however, added that those who use the social media are limited so it should not be that the Government represents the point of view of a certain section of society.

“How does the social media use its own platform to ensure that the voice of the marginalised is heard by Government, which otherwise sometimes is not heard? So in other words, we want a constructive dialogue that helps them to empower us when we move forward in our decision-making,” he said.

He did not comment on any discussions regard to monitoring of defamatory and derogatory content on the Internet.

Mr Sibal maintained that the Government does not want to interfere with the press, but if the social networking sites are not willing to cooperate with the Government on stopping incendiary material, appropriate steps will be taken.

>tkt@thehindu.co.in

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