Twitter Censors Over 50 Tweets On Request Of Indian Govt, Most Criticizing Handling Of Covid-19 Crisis: Reports

 

Twitter Censors Over 50 Tweets On Request Of Indian Govt, Most Criticizing Handling Of Covid-19 Crisis: Reports

According to recent media reports, Twitter has removed more than 52 tweets, many of which were about the shortage of medicines, beds, mass cremations, and the crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic

Popular microblogging platform Twitter has reportedly censored 52 tweets after receiving requests from the central government. Most of them are said to be the ones critical of India’s handling of the recent Covid-19 crisis.

These removed tweets include posts by West Bengal state minister Moloy Ghatak, actor Vineet Kumar Singh, filmmakers Vinod Kapri and Avinash Das, and more.

According to recent media reports, Twitter has removed more than 52 tweets, many of which were about the shortage of medicines, beds, mass cremations, and the crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic.

These tweets are blocked for viewing in India but are visible to users outside the country.

Filmmaker Vinod Kapri has confirmed about his tweet having been deleted through another tweet. On Saturday, he lashed out over the same, writing: "Will you be able to hide your incompetence by having my tweets deleted? I plead you with folded hands that it would be better to provide oxygen to dying citizens than having people's tweets deleted

The Twitter profile of Actor Vineet Singh also displays a notice that a tweet from his account has been withheld “in India in response to a legal demand”. The removed tweet had the actor state that he was in Varanasi and was facing difficulties in availing medicines. He had criticised political rallies being held amid the pandemic.

Another user publicly shared a notice he received from Twitter.

While several media reports have written about this development, the first report in this regard was filed by MediaNama which also reached out to Twitter for a response. 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, the content 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 they’re aware that we’ve received a legal order pertaining to the account,. MediaNama quoted the Twitter Spokesperson as saying.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is yet to present a public statement on this issue.