The Indian Government has censored
several Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) parody Twitter accounts, which
were being used for humor and criticism. The Government found some of
these accounts to be in poor taste, and highly offensive. The Prime
Minister himself wrote to Twitter in June,
asking it to censor these
accounts. However, Twitter being a free-speech enthusiast, probably
ignored the request. Recently, the Government got another chance at
removing all content criticizing the PMO, and made the most of this
opportunity. However, what interests me is this is that this Twitter
cleanup was performed by the Government, when scouring social media for
rumors of hatred against Northeastern people. I say, there could not
have been a better opportunity to make things right.
We are fine with parody, even though at times, it is in bad taste, and there is criticism of the government. However, we cannot allow anyone to misrepresent the PM’s office and tweet nonsense from these accounts.According to the Government’s claims, both Google and Facebook had confirmed that Pakistan was the origin of all the hatred. The miscreants were using social media to instigate violence, and some of it was spreading through Twitter. However, the Government did not receive any response from Twitter, because there are no Twitter offices in India that the Indian government can work closely with.
The
Indian government has already blocked over 400 websites, and restricted
bulk SMS facilities, as measures of control against the ongoing
tension. Though in the midst of all this ballyhoo, the Government has
also blocked several PMO parody accounts. The purportedly blocked
Twitter accounts are not blocked by Twitter, but by ISPs in India. The
Department of Telecom is leaving no stone unturned to restrict the usage
of media that can be used to spread rumors and create nuisance. Though
surprisingly, the blocked account of PM0India is back as a new account on Twitter, and it is gathering followers rapidly.
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