Must leverage social media to our advantage: Army Chief

Recognising the significance of social media and role it plays in modern-day warfare, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday said that it should be leveraged to the country's advantage.

In the wake of psychological warfare and deception by adversaries, General Rawat emphasised on imposing discipline on the usage of social media. "We have received advice that we should advise our soldiers to stay away from social media. Can you deny a soldier from the possession of a smart-phone?" the Army Chief questioned adding, "So, if you can't prevent usage of smartphone, best to allow it, but important to have means of imposing discipline," he added.

General Rawat was addressing a conference on 'Social media & the Armed Forces 2018'. Speaking at the event, he also said, "Social media is here to stay, soldiers will use social media. Our adversary will use social media for psychological warfare and deception, we must leverage it to our advantage."

General Rawat also highlighted the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern-day warfare. He said, "In modern day warfare, info warfare is important and within it, we have started talking about Artificial Intelligence. If we have to leverage AI to our advantage we must engage through social media as a lot of what we wish to gain as part of AI will come via social media.