Andhra Pradesh to set up task force against social media abuse, says Pawan Kalyan

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) said in a video post on X that social media was a powerful platform, but it did not confer an absolute right to freedom of speech.

He said legal consequences were inevitable when a person infringed upon the rights of others, and that freedom of speech was not freedom to abuse.

This did not bar criticism of the government for its policies and decisions, as questioning it was a democratic right, though with certain limits. The government would set up a task force to take action against those posting abusive messages, including death threats and character assassination, and against cyber criminals.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the misuse of social media had reached an alarming level in recent years, and the miscreants were hiding behind fake accounts to use obscene language, spread personal slander and false propaganda, morph photographs, harass and threaten others, especially women, and insult deities.

He said crime had no caste, religion or political party, and that hiding behind these identities after doing wrong was not acceptable. Stringent action would be taken against those who did so, he warned.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan said a special cell was being set up in his office to receive complaints of abuse on social media and take legal action under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Social media should be used to unite, not divide, and to question the government with responsibility and respect, within the law, he said.