TWITS IN PO
The Government’s attempt to block ‘ inflammatory’ content on the Internet was a public relations disaster
t 11 a. m. on August 20, a file marked ‘ RESTRICTED/IMMEDIATE’ landed on the desk of Department of Telecom ( DoT) Director Subodh Saxena at Sanchar Bhawan. It was from the Ministry of Home Affairs and contained a sheaf of documents topped by a terse four- page letter to Internet service providers such as Airtel, BSNL and Tata ordering them to “immediately block access” across the country to a list of 39 YouTube videos, 10 Facebook pages, 21 specific Web pages, including mainstream news reports, and 16 Twitter accounts ( including the account of this correspondent). It was the latest of three similar letters sent out on August 17, 18 and 19, listing a total of 309 specific Internet items.
Saxena was only a cog in what was an operation ordered at the highest levels of Government— the Prime Minister’s Office, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Saxena quickly signed it, setting in motion what his department and the Government hoped would be its first real crackdown on social media. But it wasn’t quite the stealth operation the Government hoped it would be.
The crackdown was, by all accounts, a public relations disaster, leaving the Government looking not just oppressive and whimsical, but also uproariously incompetent. What the Government had hoped would be an efficient surgical strike on digital hatemongering— and perhaps political dissent— ended up being perceived as
Shiv Aroor
Aan arbitrary, clumsy assault on freedom of expression that achieved little apart from focus attention on just how little the establishment understood the nature of well, the beast. The Government counter- offensive was intended to block inflammatory content such as Facebook discussion groups that were posting material about “Hindus killing Muslims in Assam”. Some Facebook users were found to be indulging in ‘ hate speech’ and inciting violence. There were YouTube videos designed to inflame passions; other users called for communal violence in their responses to news videos. The hit- list also included proactive blogs on the violence which contained purportedly concocted posts. There were 16 Twitter accounts which were found to have tweeted boisterously about the violence in Assam and Mumbai. Bangalore- based Pranesh Prakash, who researches Internet freedom and governance at the Bangalore- based