-The Hindu Nearly 24 hours after the Centre’s request, the label remains. The government does not have the power under the Information Technology Act to direct Twitter to remove the ‘manipulated media’ tag from certain tweets, experts said. They say the Centre’s move raises concerns of censorship and view the action as “needless interference” in implementation of the terms of service of a private company conducting business in India. The government on Friday had...
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Parliament proceedings: Government welcomes dissent on social media, says Ravi Shankar Prasad
-The Hindu ‘Issue is not of use of social media, it is of abuse and misuse of social media’. Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday that climate activist Disha Ravi’s arrest was based on law and order and it is under judicial process. He added that the House should consider “should some people abuse social media internationally to defame India to promote secessionism.” Replying to a question...
More »A sinking island of political pawns -Kalpita Bhar Paul and Megnaa Mehtta
-The Telegraph For the residents of Ghoramara island of the Sunderbans, the upcoming elections hold the key to their survival “How long can we keep our faith in words? I feel that not only have I been betrayed, but I have also betrayed my people. What else can I do except boycott the party gatherings [referring to the TMC] and withdraw from all this?” Walking alongside the river, as one observes the...
More »Fuzzy law, unclear jurisprudence, trampled rights -Gautam Bhatia
-The Hindu The legal regime that enables the government to block websites needs urgent reform On February 1, 2021, in the wake of the intensification of the farmers’ protests and reports of violent incidents on January 26 – a number of Twitter accounts became inaccessible in India. These included (among many others) the accounts of The Caravan magazine, the actor Sushant Singh, and the Kisan Ekta Morcha handle, which was chronicling the...
More »In the Twitter-govt faceoff, an undemocratic provision of law is being applied to its maximum threshold -Apar Gupta
-The Indian Express It leaves a sense of confusion and wonder about why our own government formed under the Constitution may be failing to fulfil its obligations when strangers who trade in our data for profit are seemingly more eager. The growing digitisation of Indian society is reflective in the ongoing protests by farmers. Battles are being waged every day in gram sabhas and protest sites as well on social media. Each...
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