While many use social media for good work, some anti-social elements use these platforms for causing controversies or illegal activities
Nagpur: Social media has now-a-days become an important part of everyone’s life and influencers are known faces with thousands of followers. While many use these platforms for good work, some anti-social elements use social media for causing controversies or illegal activities.
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Wed 25 Dec. 2024
To curb this menace in Nagpur, the Police Department is working on roping in city-based influencers to carry out cyberspace patrolling about objectionable posts or information about illegal activities through social media platforms. Nagpur Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar, supplementing efforts of his cyber cell and social media monitoring unit, has created a team of private influencers called cyber hawks who would patrol the cyberspace as volunteers to help the cops.
The police chief said that since these influencers have a large presence on social media we want them to carry out patrolling in cyberspace and inform us about anyone making objectionable posts from religious and communal point of view.
Though conceptualized in the backdrop of Udaipur and Amravati killings over hate posts, Kumar claimed the aim is to rein in any kind of anti-social activities on social media. “Whether it’s rave parties or online prostitution racket, our cyber hawks would alert me,” said the top cop.
Around 30 top social media influencers have agreed to work with the Commissioner of Police, generating daily local feed about the online platforms and their content. To begin with, CP has decided to marshal this force himself.
Following a meeting last week, Kumar and the cyber hawks team have decided to keep a close watch on social media. “The process and the functional modalities are being worked out but the basic focus is on curbing misuse of social media platforms to spread radical views or trigger social disturbance,” said the CP.
The top cop has underlined the need to bring online drug peddlers, weapons dealers and such anti-social masterminds under watch. “Our team would sniff out the anti-social elements. After receiving alerts, police would take over,” said the CP adding the identity of the influencers or members of the cyber hawks would not be disclosed.
Kumar also wants to bolster women’s safety and security in cyberspace. “Police can proactively act upon certain inputs and suo motu take pre-emptive measures and actions,” he said.
City police have come across trends like goons and gangsters using social media to target each other and resort to cyber gang war. In the past, cops had nabbed at least half a dozen goons who went live threatening rivals or posting such messages. The CP is keen to use feeds of the cyber hawks to crack down upon such goons and gangs.
