India government orders twitter to remove Covid posts.
The government of India has made an emergency order to censor the tweets. Twitter revealed on Lumen, a database that keeps track of global government orders around online content.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed it had blocked some material from being viewed in India.
Twitter did not specify which content it had taken down but media reports says it includes a tweet from a politician in West Bengal holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly responsible for Covid deaths. Also tweets from an actor criticizing Mr. Modi for holding political rallies while the virus is still on.
Twitter said it reviewed content when it received a valid legal request. The Indian government is said to have cited the information Technology Act 2000.
“If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation on the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only,” Twitter platform said.
An Indian official said the material in question was misleading or could spark panic.
“We cannot allow fake news that harms the country,” BJP National Spokesperson Gopal Agarwal told the media[BBC].
Many criticized for focusing on “censorship” while the country was in the midst of ” Humanitarian disaster.”
This comes when the country is facing massive surge in cases , with many of its hospitals facing an oxygen shortage.
India recorded 352,991 new infections on Monday and 2,812 deaths.
@Sambazanews
