LONDON. The Indian government has ordered Twitter to remove several critical posts with the management of the crisis, while in the Southeast Asian country the situation continues to be dramatic, with over 350,000 new cases and 2,812 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. According to reports from the “BBC”, a spokesman for the social media confirmed that the viewing of some content was blocked in India, where the news caused the indignation of thousands of people. Referring to the shortage of medical oxygen in hospitals, a Twitter user accused the government of “finding it easier to remove tweets than to ensure oxygen supply”, while many criticized the executive for focusing on “censorship” while the country is in the midst of a “humanitarian disaster”.
The San Francisco platform did not specify what content was removed, but Indian media claim that among the censored tweets are a West Bengal politician who held Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly responsible for the Covid deaths and an actor who criticized Modi for holding political rallies while the virus is rampant.
Twitter, explained the “BBC”, said it had reviewed the publication of some content after receiving a “valid legal request”. The Indian government allegedly cited the Information Technology Act 2000. “If it is determined that (a content, ed.) Is illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but does not violate Twitter’s rules, we may deny access to the content only in India”, did know the microblogging platform. An Indian official argued that the blocked material is misleading or could trigger panic. “It is necessary to act against those users who misuse social media during this serious humanitarian crisis for unethical purposes,” an official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told The Hindu newspaper.