Why in the News?

• Indian States have significantly expanded dedicated police social media monitoring cells over the last five years to address emerging digital-era crime trends.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Social Media Policing (Background, Monitoring Cells, State-wise Trends, Institutional Framework, Increased Monitoring, Police Modernisation, etc.)

Background: Social Media and Policing in India

• The rapid expansion of social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat has transformed the nature of crime, public mobilisation and information dissemination in India.
• While these platforms have strengthened democratic participation and communication, they have also become channels for cybercrime, misinformation, hate speech, radicalisation and coordination of unlawful activities.
• In response, policing in India has increasingly incorporated digital surveillance and online intelligence gathering as part of internal security management.
• Social media monitoring has thus emerged as a critical component of modern policing, aimed at both crime prevention and public order maintenance.

Growth of Social Media Monitoring Cells

• According to an analysis of police infrastructure data, the number of dedicated social media monitoring cells across States and Union Territories rose from 262 in January 2020 to 365 in January 2024.
• These cells are distinct units tasked with tracking online activity, unlike earlier arrangements where such functions were embedded within cybercrime police stations.
• The expansion reflects an institutional recognition that digital platforms require specialised monitoring capabilities, trained personnel, and real-time response mechanisms.

State-wise Trends and Expansion

• The growth of monitoring cells has been uneven across States, reflecting differences in population size, internal security challenges and digital penetration.
• States with the highest number of such cells include Bihar (52), Maharashtra (50), Punjab (48), West Bengal (38) and Assam (37).
• Several States have witnessed rapid scaling up since 2021.
• For instance, Assam expanded from 1 cell in 2022 to 37 in 2024, while West Bengal increased from 2 to 38 cells in the same period. Punjab doubled its capacity between 2022 and 2024.
• In Manipur, the number of monitoring cells rose from 3 in 2020 to 16 in 2024, despite prolonged internet shutdowns during ethnic violence in 2023.
• This highlights the perceived importance of digital monitoring even in disrupted connectivity environments.

Institutional Framework and Data Source

• The data on social media monitoring cells is compiled under the Data on Police Organisations (DoPO) reports, prepared annually by the Bureau of Police Research and Development.
• These reports provide a comprehensive snapshot of police infrastructure, manpower, technology adoption and capacity gaps across India.
• Significantly, social media monitoring cells began to be recorded as separate units only from 2021, indicating a formal administrative shift towards recognising digital surveillance as a standalone policing function.

Rationale Behind Increased Monitoring

• Police officials cite evolving crime patterns as the primary reason for expanding monitoring infrastructure. Social media platforms are increasingly used for:

• Coordinating organised crime and cyber fraud
• Spreading misinformation and disinformation
• Mobilising crowds during protests or riots
• Radicalisation and extremist recruitment
• Online harassment, stalking and financial scams

• The objective of monitoring is largely preventive, enabling early identification of threats, tracking viral misinformation, and intervening before online activity translates into offline violence or crime.

Related Trends in Police Modernisation

• The expansion of social media monitoring cells has coincided with broader trends in police modernisation.
• The number of cybercrime police stations increased from 376 in 2020 to 624 in 2024, reflecting the growing burden of digital crime.
• Additionally, police forces across States and Union Territories collectively possess over 1,100 drones, used for surveillance, crowd monitoring and disaster response.
• However, these technological advances coexist with structural challenges, including over 5.9 lakh vacancies in police forces nationwide, underscoring gaps in manpower even as technological capacity expands.

Governance and Civil Liberties Concerns

• The rise of social media monitoring raises important constitutional and legal questions, particularly related to privacy, freedom of speech, and procedural safeguards.
• Following the Supreme Court’s recognition of the right to privacy as a fundamental right (Puttaswamy judgment), any form of surveillance must meet tests of legality, necessity and proportionality.