The Indian government has expressed strong objection to Twitter for classifying certain tweets by Indian politicians as “manipulated media,” according to a notice leaked to journalists Friday.
The incident comes hours after Twitter labeled a tweet from Sambit Patra, the spokesperson of India’s ruling party BJP, as “manipulated media.” In the tweet, Patra had claimed that Congress, the leading opposition party in India, was using a so-called “toolkit” to derail the Indian government’s efforts against the coronavirus pandemic.
The notice didn’t mention any politician by name nor did it identify any tweets.
In the notice, the Indian government said Twitter chose to designate tweets as “manipulated” even as an investigation hadn’t been conducted and “asked” Twitter to remove such tags in the interest of “fairness and equity.”
India, the world’s second largest internet market, is a key region for many American technology firms including Twitter.
Twitter’s action, the Indian government said, dilutes its credibility as a “neutral and unbiased” platform as well as puts a “question mark on the status of Twitter as an ‘Intermediary.’ Twitter, Facebook, and any other social media firm with over 5 million users are identified as an “intermediary” in India, according to a recently unveiled law.
Twitter, which has labeled several politicians’ tweets over the years to provide more context or correction — citing news media and independent fact checkers — in many markets, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. More to follow…
from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/eA8V8J India objects to ‘manipulated’ label on politicians tweets Manish Singh https://ift.tt/3u7feWa
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