Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday said that soldiers cannot be barred from using smartphones and social media but there has to be discipline in its usage. His statement comes amid reports that government wants the defence personnel to keep away from the 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 smartphone? If you can't prevent usage of smartphone, it is best to allow it (access to social media),” said the army chief, according to ANI.

He added: “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. If we have to leverage Artificial Intelligence (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.”

The social media policy for soldiers came under the scanner after a number of videos emerged on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter of soldiers criticising their seniors and the armed forces.