The Indian government has asked microblogging platform Twitter to remove over a thousand more accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation and provocative content.
According to the report by NDTV, the Indian government has asked microblogging platform Twitter to remove over a thousand more accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation and provocative content in connection with the farmers’ protest. As per official sources, the government has said that the 1,178 listed handles have Pakistani and Khalistani users. They said the social media site is yet to completely comply with the order.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, earlier on January 31, had sent a list of 257 handles and tweets to be blocked for similar reasons. These accounts were blocked by the micro-blogging websites for a few hours before unilaterally unblocking them shortly after.
The ministry, on February 4, shared the fresh list flagged by security agencies as accounts of Khalistan sympathisers or backed by Pakistan and operating from foreign territories, threatening public order amid the farmers’ protest.
“Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative contents on farmers’ protests,” a source said, as per NDTV.
The sources also said that a few days ago Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had “liked” several tweets made by foreign-based celebrities in support of farmer protests. Twitter’s defiance of the government’s order to block the accounts, in view of this, raises several questions.
“The government also objects to Twitter CEO liking some tweets by celebrities as it raises questions on his neutrality,” the source said.
The development comes amid controversy over”toolkit” posted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg last week, which she later deleted. According to police, the document aimed to spread disaffection and ill-will against the government of India and sought to create disharmony among various social, religious, and cultural groups.
On Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said there was a reason why his ministry reacted to the remarks of celebrities like Ms Thunberg.
“I think it (“toolkit”) has revealed a lot. We have to wait and see what comes out. You can see there was a reason why the foreign ministry reacted to the statements which some celebrities gave out on matters on which they obviously didn’t know very much,” Mr Jaishankar said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
