Social Media and Security Implications:

A social media is a type of computer service used to link people virtually who have similar  interests, histories, and activities. It enables users to increase their social circle and make new connections. A SNS’s ability to share user data, such as hobbies, videos, images, and activities, is another important aspect. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have recently gained popularity among the billions of online users. These services combine user-created profiles with a method of connecting users to their friends, families, and coworkers.

Although social networking sites are increasingly becoming an inseparable part of life, it has some serious security challenges to a country’s internal security:

• There were 624.0 million internet users in India in January 2021. The number of internet users in India increased by 47 million (+8.2%) between 2020 and 2021. Internet penetration in India stood at 45.0% in January 2021.
• “The fact that over two-thirds of users are now accessing social media through their mobiles is a hopeful indicator,” says the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
• During the 26/11 attack, the handlers of the terrorist utilised the media coverage to tell them the exact locations of the policemen and advised them about the best way to attack the police. Also, the blood-stained details of the attack were displayed virtually non-stop.
• Following the ethnic clashes in Assam in 2012, cellphone and social network interfaces were used to disseminate offensive video and hate messages, causing terror and widespread departure of northeast Indians from major portions of India:
• In September 2013, a morphed video on YouTube was used to fan communal riots in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh led to mass panic. These incidents snowballed into a cyber-security challenge and exposed a facet of the medium that could be exploited by anti-national elements and required immediate attention.
• In 2014, the arrest of a Bangalore centred executive, Mehdi Masoor Biswas, suspected of being the man behind terror group Islamic State’s (ISIS) most influential Twitter handle in India, @ShamiWitness, brought to surface the extent of the threat posed by the misuse of social media at home.
• A propaganda video released by ISIS shows alleged Indian Jihadists fighting in Syria and calling for more Indian recruits to join the cause. The threat has really come to bear upon India and has proved that social media has become a potent tool for radicalisation by terror groups.
• “New media phenomena” in India where traditional media (mainly television) is increasingly relying on social media to feed its 24-hour news cycles and picking content and coverage led by social media trends.
• India has several incidents of communal tensions, most particularly between Hindus and Muslims. The media is often condemned for its non-stop coverage of these incidents, which might incite the communities to further wreak havoc. Even print media sometimes thoughtlessly carries messages from the leaders of opposing factions creating further tensions
• The convergence of various forms of media— television, social, and online networks as instruments of information and generators of user content—have multidimensional implications for law and order as well as security.
• Social media’s capacity to spread information at extremely high volumes and velocities needs to be tapped into by security and law enforcement agencies to wrest control back from perpetrators of crimes.
• Digital India has given a big thrust to a knowledge-based economy, and digitalisation has taken its new forms and shapes. The rising use of digital tools has led to the spreading of misinformation. In Kashmir, extremist groups and terrorists are using social networking sites for spreading their agendas and carry forward terrorist attacks. It is high time to come with a National policy on tackling social media related threats to national security.
• Countries like the US are not only snooping on their own citizens but are also able to freely intrude on the privacy of any individual in other countries too. The US has the specific advantage of having the servers of main social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc., within its frontiers and hence in the outreach of their laws.
• The Pegasus issue 2021 is another example of snooping and selective targeting of citizens. Social media plays an important part in the selective targeting of individuals and ideologies

Since Social media  remove geographical and financial barriers to sharing interests, images, and videos with friends, they have become a popular form of communication for billions of web users. These services, however, can put consumers at considerable danger for cybercrime. Cybercriminals use social media as a favoured playground. Business email compromise (BEC), private life exposure , data theft, and compliance issues are just a few of the hazards that social media poses.  Trolling and vandalism are also generally minor risks. If you are active on social media, you should invest resources in safeguarding your accounts.