Social media and encrypting messaging services pose a serious security challenge. What measures have been adopted at various levels to address the security implications of social media? Also suggest any other remedies to address the problem.
Approach · directive: “what / suggest”
What it asks · Explain the security risks of social media and encrypted messaging, list legal, institutional and platform-level measures, and suggest further remedies.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- Explain the security challenge posed by social media and encrypted messaging
- What measures have been adopted at various levels: legal, institutional, platform and international
- Suggest other remedies to address the problem
Open with · Puttaswamy (2017) made privacy 'an intrinsic part of the right to life and liberty', yet the same encrypted channels carry terror planning, disinformation and fraud: over ₹7,000 crore was saved from cyber fraud through I4C's reporting system by December 2025.
Cover
- Challenges: fake news and deepfakes triggering violence, terror recruitment, cross-border propaganda, encrypted planning and platform-run frauds.
- Legal: IT Act 2000, Section 69A blocking (upheld in Shreya Singhal, 2015); IT Rules 2021 on due diligence, grievance officers, takedowns and first-originator traceability.
- Institutional: CERT-In, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) with the 1930 helpline and CFCFRMS (2021), cyber cells, and Grievance Appellate Committees.
- Platform level: Chief Compliance Officer resident in India, grievance acknowledged in 24 hours and resolved in 15 days, fact-checking partnerships.
- International: MLATs and Interpol; the UN Convention against Cybercrime adopted in December 2024 and opened for signature at Hanoi in October 2025.
- Remedies: digital literacy, AI tools against deepfakes, faster treaty-based evidence access, a cyber cadre, and lawful access that passes Puttaswamy's legality–need–proportionality test.
Close with · Security and privacy are conditions of each other: every measure should pass Puttaswamy's three-fold test of legality, need and proportionality, so that Digital India stays both safe and free.
Add value (verified)
- The IT Rules 2021 require large messaging platforms to enable identification of the first originator of information for specified serious offences.PIB — Government notifies IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 ↗“Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information”
- Puttaswamy (2017): privacy is an intrinsic part of the right to life and liberty, subject to the same restraints as other Part III freedoms.Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), Supreme Court judgment text (Indian Kanoon) ↗“The right to privacy, which is an intrinsic part of the right to life and liberty, and the freedoms embodied in Part III is subject to the same restraints which apply to those freedoms.”
- Puttaswamy (2017): any invasion of life or liberty must meet the three-fold test of legality, need and proportionality.Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), Supreme Court judgment text (Indian Kanoon) ↗“An invasion of life or personal liberty must meet the three-fold requirement of (i) legality, which postulates the existence of law; (ii) need, defined in terms of a legitimate state aim; and (iii) proportionality which ensures a rational nexus between the objects and the means adopted to achieve them”
- IT Rules 2021: the grievance officer must acknowledge a complaint within 24 hours and resolve it within 15 days.PIB — Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (25 Feb 2021) ↗“Grievance Officer shall acknowledge the complaint within twenty four hours and resolve it within fifteen days from its receipt.”
- Over ₹7,000 crore saved in more than 23 lakh complaints through I4C's Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (Rajya Sabha reply, December 2025).Akashvani News — Over Rs 7,000 crore saved through CFCFRMS (17 Dec 2025) ↗“more than seven thousand crore rupees have been saved in more than 23 lakh complaints so far through the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System”
- The UN Convention against Cybercrime was adopted on 24 December 2024 and opened for signature at Hanoi on 25 October 2025.UNODC — United Nations Convention against Cybercrime ↗“the Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 24 December 2024, opened for signature on 25 October 2025 at a signing ceremony held in Hanoi, Viet Nam”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2024, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 373words · Minimalist IAS
In Puttaswamy (2017) the Supreme Court held privacy to be an intrinsic part of 'life and personal liberty' under Article 21. Yet encrypted channels now carry terror planning, disinformation and fraud: I4C's reporting system had saved over ₹7,000 crore across 23 lakh complaints by December 2025. The State must see enough to protect without seeing everything.
The security challenge
- Threats: fake news and deepfakes that trigger communal violence; terror recruitment and propaganda; cross-border influence operations; encrypted planning that evades interception; and cyber-frauds run through platforms.
Measures adopted at various levels
| Level | Measure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Legal | IT Act s.69A blocking; IT Rules 2021 | first-originator traceability for serious offences |
| Institutional | CERT-In; I4C | 1930 helpline; CFCFRMS (2021) |
| Platform | Due diligence by significant intermediaries | grievance acknowledged in 24 hours, resolved in 15 days |
- Legal: Section 69A of the IT Act 2000 for blocking (upheld in Shreya Singhal, 2015) and Section 69 for interception; the IT Rules 2021 on due diligence, takedowns and first-originator identification by large messaging platforms; the Telecommunications Act 2023 and DPDP Act 2023.
- Institutional: CERT-In for incident response, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre with its 1930 helpline and Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, State cyber cells, and Grievance Appellate Committees (2023).
- Platform level: a resident Chief Compliance Officer and grievance officer for significant intermediaries, content moderation, fact-checking and transparency reports.
- International: mutual legal assistance treaties and Interpol; the UN Convention against Cybercrime, adopted on 24 December 2024 and opened for signature at Hanoi on 25 October 2025.
Other remedies
- Literacy at source: digital and media literacy in schools and communities.
- Technology against technology: AI tools to detect deepfakes and coordinated inauthentic behaviour, with mandatory labelling of synthetic media.
- Capacity: faster treaty-based access to evidence held abroad and a cyber cadre in State police.
- Narrow lawful access: judicially overseen rules that keep encryption intact rather than weakening it for everyone, each measure passing Puttaswamy's three-fold test of legality, need and proportionality.
- Accountability: independent oversight of blocking orders and periodic government transparency reports to sustain public trust.
Security and privacy are conditions of each other, not rivals. Measures that pass Puttaswamy's test of legality, need and proportionality keep a Digital India both safe and free, the only security a constitutional democracy can afford.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
