NEW DELHI: Social micro-blogging platform Twitter is understood to have removed over four dozen tweets allegedly criticising the central government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on instructions from the IT ministry. The tweets are now inaccessible to the users of the platform.
According to Medianama, those whose posts were removed include Revanth Reddy, a Congress MP; Moloy Ghatak, a Bengal minister; actor Vineet Kumar Singh; and filmmakers, Vinod Kapri and Avinash Das.
Officials at the IT ministry did not respond to calls on the matter. When contacted, a spokesperson for Twitter said: “When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law. If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, it will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only. In all cases, we notify the account holder directly so
Twitter censors tweets critical of India s COVID response
The Indian government requested Twitter take down dozens of tweets critical of the country s pandemic response, which has drawn global attention as case numbers and deaths continue surging to record levels.
A body of a COVID victim is prepared for cremation in Delhi
Twitter on Saturday said it took down dozens of tweets in India that were critical of the Indian government s recent pandemic response, as a second wave of COVID infections continues to bring the country s healthcare system to its knees.
Over 20 tweets, some from Indian lawmakers, were reportedly withheld from public view in India in response to a notice by the central government to the social media giant.
Twitter said account holders had been notified via emails linked to their registered account.
New Delhi:
Twitter has deleted a number of tweets flagged by the centre as spreading fake news about the Covid pandemic, sources have said.
According to a report by technology policy news platform MediaNama, the censored messages include posts by Congress Lok Sabha MP Revanth Reddy, Bengal minister Moloy Ghatak, actor Vineet Kumar Singh and two filmmakers - Vinod Kapri and Avinash Das.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the deletion of tweets and said, action has been taken in response to a legal request from the Government of India .
Updated:
April 25, 2021 16:42 IST
Many of the removed tweets had content related to shortage of medicine, beds, mass cremations, and the gathering of crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the pandemic
Share Article
AAA
Many of the removed tweets had content related to shortage of medicine, beds, mass cremations, and the gathering of crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the pandemic The government has asked social media platforms to take down around 100 posts which it believes were done to create panic about the COVID-19 situation in India by using unrelated, communally sensitive posts and misinformation,
The Hindu has learnt.
On April 24, microblogging website Twitter had removed over 50 posts from its platform following orders from the government. The majority of these tweets were critical of the Centre’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as India grappled with a record number of cases amid shortage of beds and medical oxygen.