Remove Misleading Posts From Social Media: Centre

All the social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook were asked by the Central Government to remove content and posts that were spreading misinformation and public panic around the pandemic.

'' We have notified the impacted account holders of its action taken in response to a legal request from the Indian government,'' Twitter said. As per sources, these flagged posts carried misleading information about the COVID-19 pandemic and were designed to incite public panic.

This development came into existence as India is reporting the highest number of Corona cases daily. The number of COVID-19 cases touched a new daily high of 3.46 lakh cases and 2,624 fatalities on Saturday.

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When contacted, a Twitter spokesperson said when it receives a valid legal request, it reviews it under both 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,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Twitter has notified the account holders about withholding the content so that they’re aware that the action has been taken in response to a legal request from the Government of India. The microblogging platform emphasised that it is committed to the principles of openness and transparency and that it tackles misinformation based on the highest potential for harm.

However, Facebook and Instagram did not respond to queries. Several posts and content were flagged by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other websites on Friday as per the sources. Details of the account holders and the number of such posts flagged could not be immediately ascertained though.

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