The government has summoned Meta’s public policy chief after a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly removed by Facebook in India, sources said. The video in question was uploaded by PM Modi last week – at the height of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest against leaked exam papers.
In the video the PM assured protesters his government would pass a tough new law with stricter penalties for those found guilty of such acts.
“Friends, I am well aware that the issue of paper leaks is not a small matter. It causes immense distress to lakhs of students and their parents. Consequently, numerous measures have been taken over the past two-and-a-half months following these incidents, and the culprits have been apprehended and are currently in jail,” Modi said in the video.
“Working tirelessly, late into the night, the departments have already submitted a draft proposal to me. This draft, which includes provisions for fast-track courts and stricter penalties, will be discussed in the Cabinet tomorrow. It will be finalised after incorporating suggestions from Cabinet colleagues, and efforts will be made to pass the Bill in the House as soon as possible, starting with the second week of the Parliament’s session this coming Monday,” he said.
Meta said the video had been removed in error and has since been restored.
Queries to the Ministry of Information Technology were unanswered at publication.
Shot vertically, the video was seen by many as PM Modi trying to communicate with young people via social media platforms like Instagram, where shorter videos in that format are popular.
After the CJP-led protests wound down last week – once Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as the Education Minister – the government branded some videos and photographs of the agitation ‘objectionable’ and ordered them to be removed from popular social media platforms, including Facebook.
These included videos with derogatory references to senior government figures.
Meta in trouble?
Meta – which owns popular social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook – has been in the government’s crosshairs over the past few weeks, and the CJP’s NEET exam paper leak protests have intensified that spotlight.
A significant amount of commentary and documentation surrounding the protest happened primarily on Instagram.
Before that the app was under fire over distribution of child sexual abuse material on the platform.
WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, faces scrutiny over its proposed ‘usernames’ feature.
Earlier this month the government asked the popular messaging service to not roll out that feature amid concerns of impersonation and fraud. In a notice to the company, the IT Ministry gave WhatsApp three days to furnish a response.
In its notice, the government is understood to have told WhatsApp that the feature may materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks, by enabling bad actors to solicit and message unsuspecting users. The government has also flagged that the feature may facilitate impersonation of individuals, public authorities, financial institutions and government agencies, by permitting the adoption of usernames closely resembling those of genuine people and institutions.
Source: The Indian Express
--Agencies
