Govt will not tolerate data abuse by firms to influence elections: Prasad

Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said social media platforms should themselves weed out circulation of fake news and the government will not tolerate data abuse by companies for influencing elections in India.

He said the government has ordered a CBI investigation into alleged misuse of data of Indian Facebook users by British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

"Any foreign entity, Facebook or Cambridge Analytica, cannot abuse the data of Indians to influence elections of India. India's elections are very transparent, sanctified," Prasad said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

The government has told social media platforms that fake news or abusive news cannot be circulated and re-circulated to "create crimes" in India, Prasad said, adding, "that will not be acceptable".

"Therefore the origin of those news should also be technologically answered. I have conveyed to them in very clear observation that it does not need rocket science to identify lakhs of messages being circulated on a particular day, in a particular area of a particular state. You must have technological solutions," Prasad said.