The Central government is creating a regulatory framework to address the misuse of internet and social media platforms, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said on Friday, August 4, 2023.
In his reply to an unstarred question raised by Rajya Sabha Member Kanimozhi NVN Somu, on the action initiated against blackmailers on social media platforms, Mr. Chandrasekhar said there were 362, 303 and 689 cases registered under cyber blackmailing/ threatening under cybercrimes in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The highest number of cases were registered in Assam with 465 cases, in these three years. In Tamil Nadu, a total of 75 cybercrime cases were registered during this period, he said.
The Central government has enabled a National Cyber Crime Reporting portal, cybercrime.gov.in and coordinated with the State governments and police to combat cyber crimes through various awareness schemes.
On a question raised by Dr. Kanimozhi on the action taken against those committing fraud through social media platforms, the Union Minister said the law enforcement agencies at the Centre and State take appropriate legal action as the per provisions of the law against offenders. The regulatory framework is being devised under the Information Technology Act 2000 and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, he said.
