Army has formulated policy on social media use: Govt

The Indian Army has formulated a policy on the use of social media by its serving personnel which lists out dos and don'ts, the government today said.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State in the Defence Ministry Subhash Bhamre said the guidelines have been issued primarily to ensure security of information and avoid its manipulation or distortion.
"The Indian Army has promulgated the policy on the use of social media by serving Army personnel, organisations which list out the dos and don'ts guidelines and content which are barred from being posted on social media platforms," Bhamre said.

He said violations of above guidelines are investigated by the units and formations concerned.
The social media policy comes in the backdrop of reports about soldiers airing their grievance on social media.
Following such complaints, the Army also came up with a WhatsApp number where soldiers can post their problems which will be directly addressed to Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat instead of going to social media.
In response to another question, Bhamre said 14,63,512 youths applied to the Indian Army since 2014.
He said, replying to another question, a panel has been set up to examine and give their recommendations on the changes in the promotion policy and Quantified System of Selection (QSS) for officers of the Army.