Some social media influencers working against India's interest after Pahalgam attack: House panel

The panel, led by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, has sought details from two ministries overseeing information flow on the action they have planned against such influencers and platforms.

The Parliament's Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology has said that some social media influencers and social media platforms appear to be working against the interest of the country after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.

The panel, led by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, has sought details from two ministries overseeing information flow on the action they have planned against such influencers and platforms, according to news agency PTI. The panel has requested the ministries to provide "contemplated action to ban such platforms under IT Act 2000 and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021".

"Some social media influencers and social media platforms in the country seem to be working against the interest of the country, which is likely to incite violence," wrote Parliament's Standing Committee on Information Technology to the ministries of Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and Information Technology.

The letter has been sent to the secretaries of the two ministries, who have been asked to furnish the information by May 8.

Terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in South Kashmir's Baisaran valley, in the deadliest attack on civilians in recent times. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge denied by Islamabad.

Tensions have escalated between Delhi and Islamabad after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 persons, mostly tourists, in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.

India has vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of the attack and has announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan, including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the land border crossing at Attari and downgrading of diplomatic ties.