Many consider negative social media posts against government to be ‘offensive’, finds study

A majority of the people appear to be siding with the government in terms of any step taken to curb dissent against its policies on social media, a survey conducted by the Centre for Developing Societies (CSDS) has found. Many of the respondents agreed that freedom to criticise the government over social media was considered to be “offensive”.

The study, conducted to gauge consumption behaviour, found that a majority of the respondents put their trust in Indian government-run Doordarshan as compared to other private media channels. The study also found a huge uptick in the consumption of news through television channels.

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“Most of the survey respondents were found to carry what could be considered as conservative or illiberal opinions on the issue of free speech and expression on social media,” said the survey which was jointly conducted by CSDS and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

The total sample size of the survey was 7,463, from 19 states across India, including rural and urban areas. The age group on which the study was conducted belonged to 15 and above. As many as 26 per cent fully disagreed to the point where a person should be free to express an opinion, which might appear offensive. While 14 per cent somewhat disagreed, only nine per cent said they completely agreed.

Another question on whether a person is free to express any adverse opinion against the government or its policies on social media got a somewhat similar response with 16 per cent saying that they completely disagreed while only 11 per cent  said that they completely agreed.

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Surprisingly, a majority of the respondents held that government monitoring online activities was alright, and they don’t find the practice to be unethical.

“Social media users were far more likely to be against than in favour of the idea of the government determining what can or cannot be posted on social media or WhatsApp,” read the report, according to IE.