Indian government and Facebook to spread awareness on online abuse via comics and videos

• The Indian government has announced a content partnership with Facebook India.
  
• The move is aimed at giving digital literacy a push in India — eliminating the spread of misinformation and online abuse.
  
• In the South Asia Safety Summit 2019, the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Facebook jointly launched a comic series and a global literacy program ‘We Think Digital.’
  
• The global programme aims to train as many as 5 million people over the next two years.

In a bid to halt abuse of women and children online, Indian government partnered with Facebook India. The move will provide digital literacy that will help curtail abuse and spread of misinformation.

At the South Asia Safety Summit 2019, the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Facebook jointly launched a comic series and a global literacy programme. The global programme aims to train 5 million people over the next two years.

Addressing the event, Smriti Irani said “While the internet opens doors for women and children to learn and gain knowledge, there is also the responsibility of ensuring their safety, and to enable them to express their views without any apprehension. Our constant effort has been to promote the cause of equal opportunity for women and ensure a safe environment for children.”

As per the National Crime Records Bureau, over 300,000 women are smacked by familiar male counterparts. However, a whopping 62% women justify domestic violence. While there are over 430 million children in India and child abuse has been a issue of concern of the government and the citizens. For instance, an online platform showcasing child pornography has 5,000 followers.

Come 2020, the online networking platform is planning to roll out video series — ‘Thumbstoppers’ — that will feature advertising communities to spread awareness on gender equality, domestic violence and girl child education.

“Our digital literacy efforts are focused on addressing specific problem areas in the social media world, which are essentially about how we connect to and interact with people and our online ethics and behavior. We are building programmes that are aimed at internet users’ digital hygiene and maintaining online privacy and security," Ankhi Das, director of public policy for Facebook - India, South and Central Asia said during the event.

See also:
Twitter makes up for nearly half of child abuse content on social media

A third of the world’s child porn is flagged off in India, Indonesia and Thailand

Here’s why Indian government’s ‘good touch-bad touch’ sex education might not be enough