Can 'jeopardise national security': Derek O'Brien on 'Tek Fog' app

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien on Thursday wrote to Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home, for discussion concerning app 'Tek Fog' saying "usage of manipulative technologies is a severe danger to national and citizens' security".

"As a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, under your Chairmanship, I write to bring to your immediate attention a matter that has serious ramifications and could jeopardize national security. On 6 January 2022, media outlet

The Wire reported on the existence of a social media manipulator and hijacker software application by the name of 'Tek Fog'," Derek O'Brien said in his letter.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home is headed by Congress MP Anand Sharma.

The TMC MP said that "the existence and usage of manipulative technologies like Tek Fog is a severe danger to national and citizens' security, a violation of our fundamental rights to privacy and free speech, an exploitation of public discourse, and a defilement of the country's democracy and security".

"It is imperative that this matter be taken cognizance of, by the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs which deals with matters of national security. I, therefore, request you to take up this matter for discussion in the forthcoming meeting of the Committee," he said in the letter.

An investigation by The Wire for over two years into the workings of a highly sophisticated app, 'Tek Fog', has revealed shocking details about how it was "used by online operatives to hijack major social media and encrypted messaging platforms and amplify right-wing propaganda to a domestic

audience."

The investigative report uncovered a vast operation with alleged links to Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) IT Cell and its youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). It also points towards "the existence of a group of public and private actors working together to subvert

public discourse in the world's largest democracy by driving inauthentic trends and hijacking conversations across almost all major social media platforms."