Tussle between Government and Social Media Platform

Synopsis: The Government of India ordered micro-blogging platform Twitter to remove the label of manipulated media from some posts shared by its officials. This included Union Ministers, but this order has no legal foot to stand on.

Background  

It is alleged that the Government of India is willing to empower officials to attack political opponents and misinform the public. The officials spread the ‘toolkit’ prepared by the opposition to vilify the government on Twitter. The opposition has filed a police complaint against the officials stating that the document is fake.

Twitter has also tagged some of the posts in this matter as manipulated. This tag suggests that as per Twitter documents attached were forged or manipulated.

How has Twitter responded to the government’s directive?

The government of India has said that the tag was biased, and a measured attempt to colour the investigation by local law enforcement agencies. Thus, the government ordered Twitter to remove those tags. There are many issues involved in this matter.

• Firstly, Twitter has not obeyed the Centre’s order.  Six handles of some officials have posts with the tag ‘manipulated media’. The reason behind the order, in the absence of any legal provision to quote, by the Government of India is perplexing.
• Secondly, Twitter has a public policy that it may label tweets that consist of media that have been misleadingly altered or made-up. It could use its own tools or use third-party services to make that determination. 
• Thirdly, Twitter is a private unit. Its relationship with users is steered by its terms of services. The IT Act that authorizes the government to control content does not give it the power to order the removal of a label.

The conclusion 

The government’s move raises serious worries about random censorship and transparency. The Centre’s attempt to control any dialogue on its failures will lead to situations that embarrass a democracy. The Centre should discipline its officials into more civility and truthfulness in their engagement with critics.

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