All employees in the Home Ministry have been cautioned against the use of social media and directed that no confidential information should be divulged on such platforms.
The Home Ministry told its employees that though they are free to post response in their personal capacity, it is mandatory that while doing so they must clearly identify themselves and they must not divulge confidential information.
"Their views should not be seen to represent 'official view' unless authorised to do so. For any official work involving transmission of public records, they must use an email identity connected to a server, located in India and for this purpose they must preferably take service of National Informatics Centre," Home Ministry Joint Secretary Kumar Alok said in a circular.
The Ministry said that social media is increasingly being used in government for public engagements for disseminating information, policy making, recruitments, generating awareness, education etc.
"Most of the social media platforms are based outside India and are not governed by Indian laws. It is very important to ensure that Public Records Act 1993 and other applicable laws are complied with and adequate provisions for security are in place in view of current threat scenario in cyber space," the circular said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and most of the Union ministers are frequent users of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
