Harassment of women & children on social media platforms

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Women and Child Development
08-July-2016 17:25 IST

Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi meets Twitter India team to address the issue of harassment of women & children on social media platforms

The Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi today held a meeting with a team of Twitter India led by Ms. Mahima Kaul, Head of Public Policy, Twitter India to discuss the issue of empowering women and children to deal with abuse, harassment and hateful conduct on social media  especially on Twitter. Secretary, WCD, Ms Leena Nair and senior officials of the WCD Ministry were also present at the meeting held in New Delhi today.

The WCD Ministry had advised women and children to send their complaints if they are being abused or harassed on social media platforms. Ever since this message was sent out, the Ministry has been receiving a large number of complaints on this. The entire issue has been discussed in detail in light of the nature of complaints.

It was decided at the meeting that if any woman or child is facing the following kind of posts on social media platforms, they should report the same to the Ministry:

(i)          Abusive behaviour:- Violent threats (direct or indirect)

(ii)        Harassment: - Inciting or engaging in targeted abuse or harassment.

(iii)      Hateful conduct: - Promotion of violence or direct attack or threatening other people. 

                  It was decided that the complaints received by the Ministry, which are of a grave nature, will be reported to Twitter India for necessary action. During the meeting, the Twitter team also highlighted that they have their own Grievance Redressal Mechanism which the affected persons should continue to use (https://support.twitter.com/forms/abusiveuser). The Ministry will also be working with the Cyber-crime Cells of the police authorities, wherever required in this regard.