Meta ramps up censorship of protest, political reels
Posts by political leaders, parties, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, and ordinary protestors have started disappearing from Instagram at a rapid pace, following tense meetings
Posts by political leaders, parties, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, and ordinary protestors have started disappearing from Instagram at a rapid pace, following tense meetings between the company’s leadership and the Union government. The Indian Youth Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das, and the news portal Scroll.in are among those whose posts have been blocked in India. Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has been pressed in meetings about its recommendation algorithm, as the government zeroes in on the amplification of anti-establishment social media content as a factor leading up to last month’s youth protests, which concluded with the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from the Cabinet. Screenshots of posts blocked in India referred to the IT Rules, 2021, indicating that the posts are being censored through a takedown mechanism. While numerous reels — short video clips on ‘Against free speech, public interest’ “What is this blanket ban on protest-related and Modi-related content?” the CJP’s Mr. Das asked.
“It is unconstitutional and illegal. It is absolutely ridiculous. We appeal to Meta to not succumb to such high-handed pressure from the government. Algo[rithm]s must moderate grossly illegal content, not police free expression. The entire point of free internet is this. Any social media platform doing this under pressure is going against free speech principles and public interest.” Meta did not respond to a request for comment on this new wave of censorship. The government and police agencies had already ramped up censorship of Instagram posts in particular. X leaves up many posts that are reported to it under Section 79(3)(b), since these notices — unlike those under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 — do not entail criminal liability. However, as The Hindu reported on April 25, Meta complies automatically to such requests, giving the government vast powers of quick censorship.
Pranesh Prakash, a co-founder of the Centre for Internet and Society and now a tech law and policy consultant, had then told The Hindu that Meta’s automatic compliance with Section 79(3)(b) notices was problematic, as platforms were only in the dock if and when a particular piece of content was taken to court, which happens rarely. “Yet, instead of fighting for their users, Meta is unthinkingly removing content it is legally not even required to remove,” Mr. Prakash had said. Parallel system sans safeguards Those powers are now being exercised at an unprecedented clip and affecting a broad range of content. An early viral clip, with over one crore views, featuring Students’ Federation of India activist Sakhi mocking police announcements exhorting protesters to clear out of Jantar Mantar, has also been taken down. On August 6, several Facebook posts by Mr. Kejriwal were restricted.
The BriefWire