Social Media Watch Thread

The Strategic Issues & International Relations Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to India's security environment, her strategic outlook on global affairs and as well as the effect of international relations in the Indian Subcontinent. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
disha
BR Mainsite Crew
Posts: 8236
Joined: 03 Dec 2006 04:17
Location: gaganaviharin

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by disha »

Tanaji'ji

So we agree that Jack will do nanga naatch (nekid dance) on the twitter bordello to gain eyeballs, gain mileage and then gain ads. And laugh its way to the banks.

In 5 years, Twitter stock went from $20 to $70 and without turning into any profit. In nutshell, wall street cares two hoots about truth and honesty. All they care is about moolah and as long as Jack rolls it in, they will be cheering. And for that Jack and his team (including Ms. Gadde).

As for Jack Dorsey himself, his other company Square went from $17 to $270 in five years (https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SQ?p=SQ&.tsrc=fin-srch).

So Jack Dorsey is financially all set.

What is GOI's goal? Or to twist it around, whose dog & pony show is Twitter then? If one takes a step back, one realizes that this Jack foolery is to push the boundaries in a large democracy and see where the legal leaves fall. Twitter in that sense is the pointy end of the needle. To see how GOI responds. Other companies will study the responses and gauge themselves.

GOI's goal is to show that it has created an equal opportunity platform. Not jump around like Eleven pingping banning this and that and jeopardizing its own economy (yeah there is no trust in Chinese economy, including digital economy)

So enjoy this dog and pony show and trust the leaders we have put in place.

Here is the latest from Delhi HC: https://swarajyamag.com/insta/delhi-hc- ... ake-action

Twitter MD if he has some spine (which he does not obviously) must rezine. The grievance officer of Twitter already rezined and Twitter is finding hard to find a replacement. If nobody joins Twitter, then twitter will be in continuous violation of laws. Further any grievance officer rezining in short order means that twitter work culture is toxic. That creates secondary problems for Twitter.

As long as every day there is negative news or one or other FIR/Case against twitter, one can rejoice.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/twit ... 021-06-29/
The tussle, coupled with discontent over the regulatory scrutiny of other U.S. tech firms like WhatsApp and Amazon, has upset the business environment in a key growth markets, so much so that some companies are rethinking expansion plans. ...
And that is the second part which no US based company wants to lose. Of course, the navel gazing and rona-dhona and mudi must rezine whine fest will continue in this threads. For that I do not have any suggestion.
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 767
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by m_saini »

disha wrote:GOI's goal is to show that it has created an equal opportunity platform. Not jump around like Eleven pingping banning this and that and jeopardizing its own economy (yeah there is no trust in Chinese economy, including digital economy)
While Mudi must rejine :wink: , to whom are they trying to show this equal opportunity platform bijness? And do you think anyone would believe the butcher of Gujarat and hindu nationalist Mudi about that said bijness?

Moreover, if the idea was not to jump around like winnie and create equal opportunity platform then why ban apps like PUBG or tiktok? The reason cited for these bans was
These apps were banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act by the Centre citing these apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity, defence and security of the country.
Why was PUBG banned in India? Know here

Don't remember PUBG and tiktok given chances like Twitter.

Also does that mean that centre believes that twitter is NOT engaged in "activities that are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity" of India? This when Jackie boy openly claims that they have lefty bias and regularly and "arbitrarily" block profiles of BJP's own ministers and security forces in Kashmir?

Do trust the current GoI but don't understand what's so special about Twitter? Why the special treatment? Is it because we don't want to piss off woke America?
Cyrano
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5462
Joined: 28 Mar 2020 01:07

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Cyrano »

There is no 'hair on fire' hurry for the Govt to act on Twitter. GoI is giving a longish legal rope with which twitter is well on its way to hang itself. No one in Unkil admin can complain when that happens. Don't worry, have curry !
vijayk
BRF Oldie
Posts: 8760
Joined: 22 Jun 1999 11:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by vijayk »

Cyrano wrote:There is no 'hair on fire' hurry for the Govt to act on Twitter. GoI is giving a longish legal rope with which twitter is well on its way to hang itself. No one in Unkil admin can complain when that happens. Don't worry, have curry !
All we need is one court awarding 1 crore to an individual against Twitter. A precedent will be set and Govt. can act by withholding all the money. More and more cases. We will beat them with sections.
Rudradev
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4226
Joined: 06 Apr 2003 12:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Rudradev »

Just to provide some context on the whole "why gobarmand eej not banning Tweeter" rona-dhona...

Look at what's happening in the US itself these days. Forget the Republicans. The Democrats (yes, Democrats) are now in an all-out war against Silicon Valley.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07 ... final.html

The Democrats’ Divorce From Silicon Valley Is Almost Final
The last few years have seen a slow-motion breakup between the big-tech companies and Washington — especially Democrats skeptical of their market share, anticompetitive behavior, speech policies, and labor practices. But this spring and summer have seen the divorce papers finally being drafted. It’s a pronounced shift in the landscape that’s been understandably overshadowed by D.C.’s other dramas, and it’s an area where lefties are mostly happy with the Biden administration’s moves while most centrist Democrats and even some of their GOP colleagues are coming around, too.

It’s still pretty slow-motion, of course — it’s Washington. Not long ago, Google & Co. were the darling of the Obama-era center-left, and the current retreat from that posture is still probably far from what we’d be seeing in an Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders presidency, considering their campaign-season pledges to centralize this fight. The dismissal of the states’ case against Facebook was a significant setback to the argument against the company, and even as Biden’s government has signaled its willingness to take on the big tech companies more aggressively than its predecessors did, it’s been slow to fill some important roles in that effort, like an assistant attorney general for antitrust. Meanwhile, much of the D.C. power structure is still enthralled by the tech titans: Just a few hours before the ruling on Monday, Politico’s Playbook spent a paragraph musing about when Jeff Bezos would start throwing parties at his Kalorama neighborhood supermansion. As such, some of the companies’ biggest critics remain pessimistic about how much will change. It doesn’t help, they say, that Biden himself has far less of a history as an outspoken skeptic than other members of his party.

But the evidence of a new environment is piling up. Momentum had been shifting toward the tech skeptics since Democrats won back the House in 2018, at which point David Cicilline, a Rhode Island congressman who serves on Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team, took over the Judiciary subcommittee overseeing antitrust law and launched a massive investigation into Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon. When Biden won and Democrats took back the Senate, Klobuchar introduced legislation to reform antitrust laws in her own committee. She proposed more funding and regulatory teeth for the FTC and Justice’s Antitrust department, and aimed to put the onus on the companies to prove their mergers were above board.

Biden, too, stepped in. First, he hired Tim Wu, one of the country’s leading big-tech critics and scholars, to his National Economic Council with a mandate to focus on competition. Soon after, the president weighed in on a bitter dispute in Alabama, where Amazon employees were considering whether to unionize. The union drive failed, but Biden’s expression of support for the workers’ right to organize was a presidential first, and in June Kamala Harris met with unionized Google contractors in Pittsburgh, too. By that point, Biden had nominated Lina Khan, another leading scholar on tech companies’ anticompetitive practices and an adviser to Cicilline’s investigation, to chair the FTC. When she was easily confirmed in June, she almost immediately moved to review Amazon’s proposed acquisition of MGM.

Soon thereafter, the House Judiciary Committee approved six bills over the objections of some Republicans and California Democrats, including a measure to stop tech companies from giving preference to their own services over competitors’, another that would make it harder for them to acquire their growing competitors, and one that would grant federal regulators more avenues to sue to break up such companies.

“Most of these bills are going to have a fighting chance on the floor in the House and the Senate, just given the energy of these issues,” predicted Luther Lowe, the senior vice-president for public policy at Yelp and a longtime and outspoken Google enemy. “It’s clear that the Overton window has totally shifted and we’re in a different place from even six months ago.”

Even on the day Facebook won its big court victory, countervailing winds were blowing. News broke that the Biden administration was considering issuing a new executive order to spark competition and degrade the power of corporations that grew too dominant in their field, and that Department of Justice investigators were redoubling efforts to investigate Google’s ad practices.
So in short:

Facebook, Twitter, etc. gained a lot from essentially selling tickets to the circus of the Trump Administration. They were very happy to have Trump issuing his headline-grabbing Tweets day after day, the more outrage-fueling the better.

However, once it became clear that Trump was not going to be the new President (and not a day sooner!) Twitter abruptly kicked Trump off the platform; Amazon cloud services went a step further, deplatforming Parler, etc. These Tech Companies were acting with the utter cynicism of corrupt flunkies who realize there is a new boss in town and roll over to placate him in the hope that he will let them conduct business-as-usual.

Essentially they were telling the Biden Sarkar: just let us do whatever we want to do without regulation, and we will use all the power of social media to ensure your political gain.

Apparently it has not been enough and Biden Sarkar (at least for now) is making concerted efforts to cut down Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple etc. to size. It remains to be seen where this goes. They could quietly reach some back-room negotiated deal, whereby the Big Tech companies throw themselves even deeper into the tank for the Democrats and are left alone to pursue their predatory trade practices. Or there might be a series of huge showdowns where we see these Maharathis of Silicon Valley getting cut down to size, one by one.

So where does India come into all this? Well, if the power of these Silicon Valley giants is significantly curtailed by the Democrats, they are out of options in the USA. The Republicans hate them for deplatforming Trump and many other conservative commentators. They are Dhobi ka Kutta, na Red ka na Blue ka. They are going to be reformed, like it or not.

In China, there isn't much room for these companies to operate at all-- let alone increase their profit ceilings. So how are they going to make up for the losses inflicted on them by new antitrust legislation in the United States? What is the ONE market in the world where they can possibly do this?

Hamaara India, of course. The more the US government cracks down on Silicon Valley companies, the more leverage Modi Sarkar is going to get over them. They have to make their profits somewhere.

So it is in Modi Sarkar's interest to at least let these companies think that they should keep India (and GOI) happy. As long as they have hope that Modi Sarkar will facilitate them to do business in India, they are likely to agree to all kinds of things (including, perhaps, data localization) in exchange for the chance to maximize their revenues.

This does not mean Modi Sarkar should not act against (or even ban) Twitter. Twitter is not one of the Big Four Silicon Valley companies. Indeed, making an example of them may even be useful-- it will show the others exactly where GOI's redlines are.

But for those wondering why GOI hasn't just gone ahead and banned Twitter already-- I would encourage paying attention to the overall context. I am sure MEITY (and probably PMO itself) is watching the developing conflict between Silicon Valley and Biden Sarkar like a hawk. I trust that they will respond to the evolving situation when they judge it will give them the most leverage (maybe after a big US supreme court decision is handed down against the Big Four, and they become a little desperate, is the moment when sudden sharp pressure can be exerted for maximum gain).

In any case, please realize that GOI is not going to ban Twitter over this or that micro-outrage. When the ban comes, it will be a strategic decision taking the whole environment and India's best interests into context.
saip
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4231
Joined: 17 Jan 2003 12:31
Location: USA

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by saip »

All Social Media Companies - Facebook, Google and Twitter - are in trouble. Trump is suing them for zillions and zillions of dollars. Whether he gets a red cent or not from these suits, he sure will make millions of dollars. The show goes on.
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 767
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by m_saini »

I think it says a lot about us when banning something like Twitter is considered a "strategic decision". We really love to "anal"yse things to death, like it's literally just an app.

It's one thing if they can't be arsed to ban it, whole another thing if we're waiting for Twitter to get desperate and hoping they *might* allow us data localization. And all this when we already have copycat apps like Koo. Can't help but bow down in admiration.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

An old video but still worth a look



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe1OUEgRhqI


Megatrends 2020 - Breaking Old Moulds. | Deepak Vohra |





How our world (and India) is likely to be by 2030.

Understanding changing demographics, economic shifts, educational focus, and national self-esteem

Dr. Deepak Vohra is a globally renowned Indian diplomat.
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4514
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Tanaji »

Cross posting from the strategic news thread
Manish_Sharma wrote:TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/CNNnews18/status/14 ... 05475?s=19
@CNNnews18 :

Twitter has told Centre in the Delhi HC, "If we are not in compliance with new IT Rules, the centre is free to initiate action. It does not need to use the court for that."

@AnvitSrivastava shares details with @SiddiquiMaha https://t.co/RDCB8lew0g
Quite bizarre behaviour by Twitter if true. I wonder what their end game is.
mappunni
BRFite
Posts: 364
Joined: 14 Jul 2017 19:07

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by mappunni »

Now it is time for GOI to act, do the Al Capone act, and fine the twits at Twitter a few hundred crores.

And hope the judiciary can follow GOIs path and provide judgement for each of the lawsuits filed and the numbers will quickly add up to a few thousand crores will make me a happy camper. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
vijayk
BRF Oldie
Posts: 8760
Joined: 22 Jun 1999 11:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by vijayk »

mappunni wrote:Now it is time for GOI to act, do the Al Capone act, and fine the twits at Twitter a few hundred crores.

And hope the judiciary can follow GOIs path and provide judgement for each of the lawsuits filed and the numbers will quickly add up to a few thousand crores will make me a happy camper. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
If I were the judge, I would order the Govt. to shut down the service immediately but I am not :rotfl:
Ambar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3173
Joined: 12 Jun 2010 09:56
Location: Weak meek unkil Sam!

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Ambar »

Better still impose financial penalties and keep increasing it for every violation. If and when they fail to pay shut them down for limited time similar to twitter's arbitrary bans and if they repeat the violation make the ban permanent.
Prem
BRF Oldie
Posts: 21233
Joined: 01 Jul 1999 11:31
Location: Weighing and Waiting 8T Yconomy

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Prem »

Ambar wrote:Better still impose financial penalties and keep increasing it for every violation. If and when they fail to pay shut them down for limited time similar to twitter's arbitrary bans and if they repeat the violation make the ban permanent.
This is better policy and seems like GOI working toward this end. After the example is set , Next time no Indian will want or dare to work for Twitts in Bharat.
Pratyush
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12187
Joined: 05 Mar 2010 15:13

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Pratyush »

I wonder who approached the courts in this case. Surely it wasn't the Indian government.

The twitter is quite smart. As they know that the government cannot take any action as long as the matter is in court.

Drag it out as much as possible.

Quite brilliant.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

whatsapp


The one person who has worked tirelessly for this Government is Rahul.

And yet again he is being overlooked for a Cabinet position.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

Pratyush wrote:I wonder who approached the courts in this case. Surely it wasn't the Indian government.

The twitter is quite smart. As they know that the government cannot take any action as long as the matter is in court.

Drag it out as much as possible.

Quite brilliant.


2 hours ago — The Kerala High Court on Friday granted interim protection to News Broadcasters ... Kerala High Court Issues Notice On Plea Filed By News Broadcasters Association Challenging IT Rules 2021; Orders No Coercive Action
Kati
BRFite
Posts: 1850
Joined: 27 Jun 1999 11:31
Location: The planet Earth

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Kati »

Worth a read . . . .

How Vietnam's 'influencer' army wages information warfare on Facebook

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-07-09/
Unlike in neighbouring China, Facebook is not blocked in Vietnam, where it has 60 million to 70 million users. It is Vietnam's main platform for e-commerce and generates around $1 billion in annual revenue for the company.

It has also become the main platform for political dissent, launching Facebook and the government into a constant tussle over the removal of content deemed to be "anti-state".

Vietnam has undergone sweeping economic reforms and social change in recent decades, but the ruling Communist Party retains a tight grip over media and tolerates little dissent.

Last year, Vietnam slowed traffic on Facebook's local servers to a crawl until it agreed to significantly increase the censorship of political content in Vietnam. Months later, authorities threatened to shut down Facebook in Vietnam entirely if it did not locally restrict access to more content.
rsingh
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4451
Joined: 19 Jan 2005 01:05
Location: Pindi
Contact:

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by rsingh »

m_saini wrote:I think it says a lot about us when banning something like Twitter is considered a "strategic decision". We really love to "anal"yse things to death, like it's literally just an app.

It's one thing if they can't be arsed to ban it, whole another thing if we're waiting for Twitter to get desperate and hoping they *might* allow us data localization. And all this when we already have copycat apps like Koo. Can't help but bow down in admiration.
An Indian with ( free) social media access is a dangerous mix.. life is monotone otherwise.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

and the most telling comment on twitter:

Our New Health Minister @mansukhmandviya is a very decent and hardworking man.

His English may not be as good as Tharoor but his wife is alive.



Odd Day: Defends Rabri Devi (3 times CM of Bihar) for poor english

Even Day: Mocks Mansukh Mandaviya for his 2014 tweet in english.

Heights of Dalali

Image

Pratik Sinha@free_thinker (this is the alt news creep and well known dalal)

Image


english toh tumhari bhi kaafi acchi dikh rahi lekin kar rahe ho dalali
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

from twitter

Most incredible example is this one: the languages are "South Asian" but the variant is "Indian"

the now impotent Bad Blind Country, is still smarting from being kicked out more than 70 years ago.

For India, it remains the perfidious albion.

make no mistake, the beeb is the alter ego of the colonial anti India and anti Indian civilization focussed ye olde english crusade culture that has changed both, its objectives and its perception of the enemy.

Conquest has been redefined and fools that we are, we refuse to see the new reality of the sartorially transformed old ogre, slyly, and seditiously seduced by oxbridge and oxfam and the commie descendants of the resident subversive macaulay tribe

The beeb simply could not have carried out its sustained, long standing and ongoing calumnious tirade against India without the explicit blessings of the crown and canterbury which implies that the church and the state are united in their mission.



Image
Agasthi
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 52
Joined: 18 Jan 2017 08:29

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Agasthi »

Our knowledge of English gives us a window to look into the white man's world but is also a problem. We who are part of the indian english speaking subset don't seem to care about French, German or Spanish sources but English Propaganda gets our goat. Comments section see a lot of angst from indians and it could be possible that such traffic is driving English propaganda wanting to drive english speaking indians upset so that they could patronize us whilst grabbing eyeballs.

It could be that many politicos and other arms of the state and the public don't give a rat's ass of Angrez propaganda or ignorant of these. Maybe it is time for us to do the same and ignore? and work towards eradicating this bias that exists within Indians. My suggestion would be for the Education Minister to come out with a JNU English dictionary and a Banerjee & Chatterjee Grammar closely mirroring indian language grammar rules. If we can't get rid, we should start owning it.
rsingh
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4451
Joined: 19 Jan 2005 01:05
Location: Pindi
Contact:

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by rsingh »

Just talking about French and German media. They are living in their own wonderland cocoon. I scan French print media everyday. Any positive artical will have desi ladies enjoying holi.
Rest most of the time it slums of India crowded crossings in busy street. Article shows only negative aspects. Indian have no right to be patriot or secular. Indian slapping of China was neglected by French media. They never praise India vaccination drive and usually highlight faults in it.Germans takes India with glasses of 1960s. They outsource India to some well groomed Indian Journalists who hate India and Indian culture. Have you seen DW news Or documentaries? For them occupied Tibet and Thailand are more important countries. Belive me English media is most fair one for India.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanjaykumar »

That’s merely compensation for their barbarous medieval and more recent history. Given their current and almost certain everlasting second position to the Anglo Saxons who speak English, this is a rational position.

Apparently they have a problem with more liberal Britain now being insufficiently European.

Germans are the Christians who turned human beings into shoe leather 75 years ago. They need to look down on someone. Difficult to do when you have plumbed the depths of hell.
sudarshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3018
Joined: 09 Aug 2008 08:56

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sudarshan »

chetak wrote:from twitter

Most incredible example is this one: the languages are "South Asian" but the variant is "Indian"

...

Image
Do not fume and rage, rejoice!

We knew it all along. The term "South Asian" was specially coined to do the following:

* Rub off Indian successes on the neighbors of India, specifically the loser neighbors (we know who they are, henceforth abbreviated as "LN" in this post)

* Rub off LN failures on India

While reserving the term "Indian" for the following:

* Failures specific to India/ Hinduism

And the terms "Pakistani, Bangladeshi" etc. for the following:

* Keeping any isolated successes as specific to those LN countries

Now we have a tweet which makes the above painfully obvious. Archive it before it disappears, and use it liberally to full effect. And look for more such material. It's there, and more will come.

On top of that, do the following:

* Start referring to the moon landings, invention of the internet, Voyager, etc. as "North American" success stories - nobody can object, technically, it is perfectly true

* Start referring to grinding poverty in Haiti and other such things as failings of "North America" - nobody can object, technically, it is perfectly true

* One could of course also refer to the rampant sexual assault situation in Honduras or Nicaragua as also "North American," if not for the fact that the US is actually worse!

* Continue referring to poopy LA streets as specific to the US

And thank your stars that, now that the incompetence of the incumbent VP of the US is being exposed, she has already been classified as "South Asian" rather than "Indian." Make the most of that as well.
sudarshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3018
Joined: 09 Aug 2008 08:56

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sudarshan »

Agasthi wrote:... My suggestion would be for the Education Minister to come out with a JNU English dictionary and a Banerjee & Chatterjee Grammar closely mirroring indian language grammar rules. If we can't get rid, we should start owning it.
In that case, my suggestion would be to not wait for the Education Minister, but to do it yourself. Indian "history" based on linguistics, was created by European nobodies, such as Max Mueller, and these nobodies became somebodies by doing that. Why should Indians wait for an Indian "somebody" to return the favor to Europe? Who are we trying to impress with the credibility of the Indian Education Minister?

An Indian "nobody" is good enough to do reinterpretation of European mores, and in the process, the Indian nobody can become a famous "somebody."

No offence to you, I'm sure you are already somebody, not a nobody :). But you get what I say, right?
Varoon Shekhar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2178
Joined: 03 Jan 2010 23:26

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

Are Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Saudi, Morocco and Ivory Coast scrutinised and critiqued to anywhere near the extent that India is? They would have their major economic, political, social, historical( including historical controversies) and environmental issues. It needn't be exactly the same contested subjects of India( i.e CAA) but they would exist. Where are the Rana Ayyubs, Pankaj Mishras , Arundhati Roys, Ramachandra Guhas, Praful Bidwais, Romila Thapars et al in those countries? For that matter, where are the V.S Naipauls, Ashish Nandys, Shashi Tharoors etc?
Last edited by Varoon Shekhar on 12 Jul 2021 01:58, edited 1 time in total.
sudarshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3018
Joined: 09 Aug 2008 08:56

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sudarshan »

^ To answer your (rhetorical) questions - no, those countries are not scrutinized, and no, they don't have the worthies whom you mention. That is a good thing, something for India to be happy about, that India has all these cultivated negatives, but those countries don't. It means a. that India matters big time; and b. India is doing things right, in its own self interest. Cribbing and exposing those things can and should be done, but don't do it from a position of weakness and defensiveness. Do it confidently, secure in the knowledge that those negatives have been cultivated, precisely because India is important in the grand scheme of things. And use those negatives as weather vanes to judge if India is headed in the right direction or not.
Varoon Shekhar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2178
Joined: 03 Jan 2010 23:26

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

That's a very good way of looking at it, Sudarshan! India can derive strength from it, and also obtain a crystal clear view of who is attacking the country and ethos. I suppose after a while, the inordinate, grossly imbalanced attention to India's issues and controversies, becomes annoying and irritating. An observer could be excused for thinking that those other countries have no problems or controversies of any kind. Philippines, to give just one example, was colonised by the Spanish and then occupied and controlled by the US for several decades. Someone in the Philippines must have tabulated the human and material cost of these foreign invasions. But you would never know it from the international media. And colonialism is just one issue.
Amber G.
BRF Oldie
Posts: 9263
Joined: 17 Dec 2002 12:31
Location: Ohio, USA

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Amber G. »

The languages are "South Asian" but the variant is "Indian"



Image
It is well known among many of us:

The use of "South Asian" when "Indian" (or "Indian-American") is the correct phrase is an attempt by the likes of NYT to downplay the accomplishments of Indian-Americans. It is also used by the likes of the BBC to hide the true nationalities of criminals in the UK.

Thousands of examples: Even this recent NYT Story:
The Scripps National #SpellingBee has become a source of pride within the South Asian American immigrant community: Since 2008, a South Asian American child has been a champion at every bee.
(Every champion since 2008 has been an Indian American. This is a good example of why the 'South Asian' bogey came about in the first place.

BBC Often use the term "south asian" where more accurate term "Pakistanis" could have been used to better describe their nationality...
---
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanjaykumar »

When Sikhs are arrested in Canada, often their names do not include Singh.

Otherwise they invariably do. Same mental processes. Chuckle.
g.sarkar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4382
Joined: 09 Jul 2005 12:22
Location: MERCED, California

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/09/tech/twi ... index.html
Twitter is a mess in India. Here's how it got there
By Diksha Madhok, CNN Business, Fri July 9, 2021

New Delhi: Twitter is going through an extraordinarily tough year in India. But the company's response to the turmoil has left even some people who would like to be on its side baffled.
Silicon Valley's biggest tech firms have been locked in a tense stand-off with India over strict new information technology rules the government introduced in February. The rules are aimed at regulating online content and require companies to hire people who can respond swiftly to legal requests to delete posts, among other things — and these executives may be subject to potential criminal liability if flagged content is not removed.
There are serious, legitimate concerns about Big Tech's entry into India and elsewhere that these rules could theoretically address. American social networks have moved into other countries, eager to tap large new markets but seemingly with little concern for what effects their platforms could have on the people there and little expertise or infrastructure to deal with those effects. That can have massive consequences, as Facebook's presence in Myanmar did, as well as smaller ones. Authorities in India facing an urgent issue with material on Twitter, for instance, might currently have to wait until people in California — 12 hours behind — are available.
But activists and tech firms fear the new rules give Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government too much discretionary power, and that their primary effect might be allowing the government to target and censor political opponents. In the middle of all this, Twitter has become the government's favorite punching bag.
The company has struggled to fill key spots mandated by the government that other firms have had more success with. And tech experts told CNN Business that they're puzzled by Twitter's seeming inability to commit to either complying with the rules or to taking a stand and defying them entirely. "This year has seen a significant rise in digital authoritarianism in India ... and Twitter has been made into a scapegoat to send a message to other companies," said Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia policy director and senior international counsel at digital rights group Access Now. He added that Twitter probably did not realize how much of a target it had become until too late.
"If they had," he said, "they could have been more public with the challenges they have been facing."
Instead, Chima said, Twitter's public response and engagement with authorities, tech advocacy groups and even the media has been "intermittent," making it hard for potential allies to defend the company from the government onslaught.
Now the tech giant is in uncharted waters in one of its largest markets. Twitter has lost immunity over third party content in India, which means it can be held legally liable for anything its users post on its platform. The company is also the target of a handful of police investigations in India, including one related to how the company has treated tweets from a prominent ruling party official.
.....
Gautam
Amber G.
BRF Oldie
Posts: 9263
Joined: 17 Dec 2002 12:31
Location: Ohio, USA

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Amber G. »

Ashwini Vaishnaw: New IT rules protect users, will ensure safe social media
Soon after taking oath as the IT and communications minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that all those who live and work in India will have to abide by the rules of the country.
Looks like after all the hulla-gulla this thing is going to be resolved sensibly.
sudarshan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3018
Joined: 09 Aug 2008 08:56

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sudarshan »

g.sarkar wrote:https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/09/tech/twi ... index.html
Twitter is a mess in India. Here's how it got there
By Diksha Madhok, CNN Business, Fri July 9, 2021

... The rules are aimed at regulating online content and require companies to hire people who can respond swiftly to legal requests to delete posts, among other things — and these executives may be subject to potential criminal liability if flagged content is not removed.

...

But activists and tech firms fear the new rules give Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government too much discretionary power, and that their primary effect might be allowing the government to target and censor political opponents.

...

"This year has seen a significant rise in digital authoritarianism in India ... and Twitter has been made into a scapegoat to send a message to other companies,"

...

The company is also the target of a handful of police investigations in India, including one related to how the company has treated tweets from a prominent ruling party official.
.....
Gautam
And this, ladies and gents, is how one does propaganda. Note the language above. The first line for instance. "The rules - being aimed at removing flagged content." Painting the GOI as the one suppressing free speech, and twitter as pro-free speech. A major part of the dispute is of course the tendency of twitter to arbitrarily delete content with no grievance redressal mechanism. And that part is conveniently shoved under the carpet with the words "among other things."

Then the second line, which paints Modi as targeting political opponents, whereas all along, it's been entirely the other way round.

The third line is very interesting. Yes, this year has seen a significant rise in digital authoritarianism in India. And the culprit is - Twitter! Not the GOI. It is twitter which has been arbitrarily censoring and deleting tweets. Nice little half-truth.

The last line - "related to how the company has treated tweets from a prominent ruling party official." Yeah? The company deleted the tweets arbitrarily, that's how it "treated" them. Propaganda at its crassest (certainly not at its finest - there's no finesse in the article at all).

The whole article not-so-subtly paints the GOI as the one stifling free speech, whereas twitter is the guilty party here, and GOI is working to address that. But of course that's not what the average dumberican reader will take away from the article. Quite the opposite in fact.
la.khan
BRFite
Posts: 466
Joined: 15 Aug 2016 05:02

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by la.khan »

Amber G. wrote:It is well known among many of us:

The use of "South Asian" when "Indian" (or "Indian-American") is the correct phrase is an attempt by the likes of NYT to downplay the accomplishments of Indian-Americans. It is also used by the likes of the BBC to hide the true nationalities of criminals in the UK.

Thousands of examples: Even this recent NYT Story:
The Scripps National #SpellingBee has become a source of pride within the South Asian American immigrant community: Since 2008, a South Asian American child has been a champion at every bee.
(Every champion since 2008 has been an Indian American. This is a good example of why the 'South Asian' bogey came about in the first place.

BBC Often use the term "south asian" where more accurate term "Pakistanis" could have been used to better describe their nationality...
---
Another example of the above:
14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde breezes to victory at National Spelling Bee
Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old from Frisco, Texas — another student of Shafer-Ray — was runner-up. She has two years of eligibility remaining and instantly becomes one of next year’s favorites.

The only previous Black winner of the bee was Jody-Anne Maxwell of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1998. She was also the first and only non-U.S. competitor to win.

Zaila breaks a streak dating back to 2008 during which at least one champion or co-champion was of South Asian descent.
Jody-Anne Maxwell is from Kingston, Jamaica but Chaitra Thummala has no heritage to speak of. Every winner since 2008 was of South Asian descent. Again, nothing specific on the heritage of the winners, since 2008.

The Marketwatch article quotes AP; so, I went looking for an AP article on the same. I couldn't find the exact same article in AP website featured on MW's website. The news article on spelling bee 2021on AP's website has reference to both India & South Asia

African American spelling bee champ makes history with flair
The only previous Black champion was also the only international winner: Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998. The bee, however, has still been a showcase for spellers of color over the past two decades, with kids of South Asian descent dominating the competition. Zaila’s win breaks a streak of at least one Indian-American champion every year since 2008.
rsingh
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4451
Joined: 19 Jan 2005 01:05
Location: Pindi
Contact:

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by rsingh »

I do not know much about positive or negative impact of social media, but the records of communal happiness index were brokenby Italians youthful girls in Italy. Enthusiastic display of beautiful corp brought tears in my year. Let Euro cup be held every year and the winner countries celebrate for one month . :((
Thanks Allah that cold Englad lost Italy has showed the world what is real happiness.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

Image
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 32227
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

whatsapp

so true

Hi @peta@PetaIndia, just a friendly reminder. Bakra-Eid is around the corner. Time for you guys to disappear from the world. See you during Rakshabandhan with a new ‘say no to leather’ campaign. Meanwhile, enjoy the halal biryani!
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6088
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanjaykumar »

The vaunted BBC, stiff upper lip and all, seems to have developed rigor mortis of the upper lip.


There is no coverage on the home page of British behaviour after Italy’s win in the football cup.


There is definitely a role for social media.
rsingh
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4451
Joined: 19 Jan 2005 01:05
Location: Pindi
Contact:

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by rsingh »

:rotfl: I got few bad bad clips of Italian celebration. Mainstream media will never show. Jug jug jive social media.
Kaivalya
BRFite
Posts: 430
Joined: 19 Oct 2018 21:51

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Kaivalya »

Data speaks for itself - it is crazy amount of mis information that is spread from these accounts. Anyone hiding behind any execuse is just fooling themselves.

WhatsApp banned two million Indian accounts while it received 345 grievance reports between May 15 and June 15, the company said in its maiden monthly compliance report as mandated by the IT rules.



https://news.rediff.com/commentary/2021 ... 73697976f1
Post Reply