CBI to probe data misuse of FB's India users by Cambridge Analytica: Govt

New Delhi: The Centre has asked the CBI to probe the alleged misuse of data of India's Facebook users by British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica, Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

In a significant move ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prasad said the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) would determine whether Cambridge Analytica violated the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Indian Penal Code(IPC). The data mining and analysis firm earlier faced allegations it used personal information harvested from 87 million Facebook accounts to help Donald Trump win the 2016 US presidential election.

While raising the issue, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said that even after so many assurances, the social media platforms were not adhering to the law of the land.

Incidents relating to abuse of social media leading to mob lynchings were tarnishing India's image, said Azad, adding that 40 lynching incidents had taken place this year so far in 13 states across the country based on rumours.

In his response, Union Minister for Electronics & IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "These (incidents) are deeply painful and regrettable, as well as a matter of deep concern for the Government. The government has taken prompt action".

Responding to the members' concerns during a calling attention motion notice on the misuse of social media platforms and propagation of fake news causing unrest and violence, he said the government is seriously considering that through appropriate rules all social media platforms should be required to locate their grievance officer in India.

According to the minister, WhatsApp had informed that it would introduce fact-checking and fake news verification mechanisms to help people check the veracity of content on the platform.

"They (social networking platforms) have also to follow Article 19(2) of the Constitution and ensure that their platforms are not used to commit and provoke terrorism, extremism, violence and crime," he said.