Social media ban revoked in Kashmir

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar May 26

The state government has revoked the ban on social media networks in the trouble-torn Kashmir valley after it remained in place for one month.

The decision not to extend the ban was taken on Friday during a meeting of officials of the Home Department after taking into account the reports of security agencies, which have been baffled by the increased use of virtual private networks (VPNs).

“We have not extended the ban, which has expired today. We are not issuing any order for it and social media networks will function as they used to work in the past,” Home Commissioner RK Goyal told The Tribune.

Officials said the government was concerned about the increasing number of proxy Internet users which held back the authorities from extending the ban.

The state government on April 26 directed Internet service providers not “to transmit” any content from 22 social networking sites and messaging services, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Youtube, Google+ and Snapchat.

The ban was necessitated by a series of protests and demonstrations last month after the government restored high-speed Internet services 3G and 4G.

Despite the ban on the social media, people in Kashmir were back on social networks, courtesy VPNs.

However, the increasing number of VPN users in Kashmir had thrown the security agencies in a tizzy as they feared the ban would become irrelevant in future.

“More people are learning the use of VPN and at one time it will become difficult for us to control the internet misuse,” a senior police officer said. The government, he said, should take concrete steps to keep the ban relevant. Director General of Police SP Vaid admitted there were “pluses and minuses” associated with the ban on social media networks. “We will monitor the situation for some time and then take a further call,” Vaid said.