Social Media Watch Thread

[Ambar]

cant find you there.. did try finding you and others there..i am with my brf handle in hindi....
PS: changed the language settings and found !!

mine is @vijayk2000
Following ramana_brf

Doesn't it ask for a local phone number to send the OTP ?

[darshan]

Sandes, a Make-in-India alternative to Whatsapp, being tested by government officials: Read the details
https://www.opindia.com/2021/02/sandes- ... overnment/
Government officials have reportedly started using Sandes, a desi alternative to popular messaging application Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook. Back in 2020, the central government had hinted at developing a Whatsapp-like messaging platform. It appears like the application is ready is being tested by government officials of various ministries.

According to a report published in Business Standard, officials have started using the GIMS, an abbreviation for Government Instant Messaging System, which was later renamed to Sandes. The app, as of now, can be used by Government officials only. When the users try to sign in on this app through LDAP, sign-in with Sandes OTP, and Sandes web, they are told: “This authentication method is applicable for authorised government officials”.
...

[darshan]

Other issues that can be looked into: transparency in everything if the platform is involved in influencing and monetization, ability to have data export by the user, no automatic delete of user data and account, human required to handle account closure, etc. The deletion of user data without any recourse allows these companies to play various harassment games.

[ArjunPandit]

cant find you there.. did try finding you and others there..i am with my brf handle in hindi....
PS: changed the language settings and found !!

mine is @vijayk2000
Following ramana_brf

didnt find you there..
koo profile
see if that works..the app is a bit slow..i guess we have to be a bit patient

[mukkan]

Even in UK, data loss trial is expected to take at least 3 years. India may be 30 years

But the case against the technology giant, expected to last for at least three years, will argue a “loss of control” over users' personal data warrants individual compensation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55998588

[vera_k]

Doesn't it ask for a local phone number to send the OTP ?

No, 91 is the default, but the dropdown allows selecting other countries.

[Suraj]

Most of the arguments about 'India has a poor record of acting against MNCs' doesn't take the effort to provide examples and explain their argument. Most examples fall into the following baskets:
* Poorly conceived law that faces legal challenges and gets struck down in courts, i.e. fails the basic test of constitutional validity. This is a problem with drafting the law.
* Poor representation by GoI in legal cases, e.g. Minhaz Merchant in a recent article
* Poorly conceived law that does bizarre things like retrospective taxation, that gets struck down in external arbitration.

There's a trend here - often the government implements laws and rules badly. Knee-jerk bans fall in this category. The executive can order anything, but at some point the lawyers will step in and have it invalidated . Then people hyperventilate and demand more. This is stupid. Don't demand things that are easily invalidated by lawyers, that just cause you to get even more angry at it. Please step back and think.

There's very little anecdotal history of the government devising a good law, that someone just won't follow. Nobody is that big. A well crafted set of laws will treat SM with the same rigor as foreign print media. It will completely redo the implicit Section 230 privileges that American SM platforms claim, and instead impose Indian rules. Data and analytics locality, controlled by APIs that the Indian government can use, will ensure the ability to act and punish. There should be no free ability to monetize analytics with Indian data in India. The data cannot be monetized outside India, nor can it be transferred. The structure of the law makes it simple for the government to apply and collect a fine, but harder for the SM entity to just defiantly refuse, because they don't hold such cards, as they do now.

So please, step back and think how policy and execution here can work. Seeking instant gratification solutions is not the answer.

[chetak]

Joined Koo too. But their website seems to be extremely slow, takes forever to load. Don't know if they're just getting more traffic or they haven't worked out the kinks yet. Also trying to sign in gives a critical error. Can anyone else confirm?

https://www.kooapp.com/feed

give them some time to ramp up, saar

if you are comparing them with phoren apps which have had some years of operating experience and the infrastructure to match, along with the funding and revenue streams, it's a tad unfair, no

[chetak]

India's track record on enforcing laws against big MNCs is very poor. Even if they try, it will drag in courts for years. By that time irreversible damage would be done. So I don't have much hopes on laws and legal system helpful in this internet colonization. Needs political will and strong proactive action like in national security kind of matters.

Section 69A (3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which also allows the Centre to suspend the platform “in national interest or for public order.”

The section was also used to ban over 200 Chinese apps last year.

If the MNCs break laws in India with their apps, then this will be used to sort them out

“in national interest or for public order.” outguns the hizzonners.

[Ambar]

Doesn't it ask for a local phone number to send the OTP ?

No, 91 is the default, but the dropdown allows selecting other countries.

Thanks, it looks like they are down now.

[nam]

We should not make the mistake of banning SM sites like twitter, because it allows our adversary to run away with propaganda against us. It is very important, that we should NOT leave the fighting arena. We should have alternatives in India, but at the same time, have our finger on international SM.

With 1.3B we will overwhelm any SM. We can drive any propaganda against us to ground, by setting up counter trends.

Notice how the Chinis completely lost the narrative during Galwan and LAC standoff, because there are no Chinese on twitter to counter our narrative. Chini ambassadors and Global Times are trying hard to show their are superior, but cannot do much...

It is forcing CCP to hire trolls on twitter to counter our narrative.

[m_saini]

give them some time to ramp up, saar

if you are comparing them with phoren apps which have had some years of operating experience and the infrastructure to match, along with the funding and revenue streams, it's a tad unfair, no

I didn't mean to put them down chetak sir, I was getting a weird error so just wanted to see if i was the only one.

Completely agree that it's unfair to compare them to phoren apps. Anything desi must be nurtured and given every help they require to stand up to twatter and gang.

[Ashokk]

Under pressure, Twitter starts blocking handles censured by govt

[Primus]

No, 91 is the default, but the dropdown allows selecting other countries.

Thanks, it looks like they are down now.

I had no problems, it automatically recognizes my country and adds the country code. The app itself installed very quickly. looks good so far.

[mappunni]

RSP should not succumb to half-hearted attempts by Twitter to pick and choose what accounts it wants to block.

Twitter and thug Jack needs to understand that they will have to obey the laws of the land if they want to function in India.

Koo is the first step in delegitimizing Twitter in India. Once PM Modi and BJP move to Koo, Twitter will be also run with just Buddhu and the rest of his Chamchas on Twitter with traffic reduced drastically.

[venkat_kv]

I agree with Suraj Saar and nam saar. if we ban twitter, Fb, WhApp it will feed into the same false global narrative thatthe current govt is fascist and extremist. it would take far more resources to try and come up and explain why they were banned in the first place for peddling false and motivated posts/news.
We have to be on these platforms s govt is using these to bypass the existing News media to get their point across. Medium to long term Indians will have to move to an Indian platform which work with data and privacy laws in India and is run by Indians.
Short to medium term we have to put in the laws to squeeze them as in data laws, privacy laws and monetization of user data.

the babus in the govt should have institutional memory of an elephant and should slowly and surely put the lid on these foreign actors. we should be more of an elephant that can and will rampage if it needs to rather than sprint like a cheetah for a few seconds.

[Bart S]

A start would be to make it illegal to:
1> Trend hashtags. This is a major technique used by Paki ISI bots and Khalistanis
2> Do any censorship without govt approval. The govt is the only authority in the land with the right to censor anybody. Period.
3> Ensure that every account has country of origin displayed, disallow anonymous handles (those that are not linked to mobile number or Aadhar based login etc)
This would straightaway take a lot of wind out the sails of the disinformation operations

[venkat_kv]

A start would be to make it illegal to:
1> Trend hashtags. This is a major technique used by Paki ISI bots and Khalistanis
2> Do any censorship without govt approval. The govt is the only authority in the land with the right to censor anybody. Period.
3> Ensure that every account has country of origin displayed, disallow anonymous handles (those that are not linked to mobile number or Aadhar based login etc)
This would straightaway take a lot of wind out the sails of the disinformation operations

Saar, for point 1, sometimes even the dharmic folks need to trend something, (case in point the recent India United hashtags against rihanna, grets et all).
having a phone number will allow every govt official in non-BJP states to harass the indic folks. we can only think what would have happened if trueindology phone numer was known to the concerned IPS officer. they would have phoned their friends to pick the chap from other states if required.

[Vayutuvan]

mine is @vijayk2000
Following ramana_brf

didnt find you there..
koo profile
see if that works..the app is a bit slow..i guess we have to be a bit patient

Is there a desktop or web version which can be used from my desktop Chrome browser?

[vimal]

I’ve been tracking this for some time now but no media outlet in US spews more anti-desh bile than Bloomberg. It seems strange that most articles about India is from political and social perspective rather than financial or business. Owner Mike Bloomberg is a known China puppet and there is no dearth of commies posing as journalists.

[RajaRudra]

Hi, Nice to see even govt ministry official accounts getting created in koo. It's a pointer to things to come , may be their twitter accounts will be left obsolete or closed.

Hope the koo is sufficiently vetted now, we should not ending up creating a local version left - commie pasand entity.

[Sachin]

Hi, Nice to see even govt ministry official accounts getting created in koo. It's a pointer to things to come , may be their twitter accounts will be left obsolete or closed.

Closing down is better. A good tweet (on twitter) that the Govt/Ministry/Official is moving to Koo, and "see you there" will be the best thing to do. Twitter too would naturally get the message.

[nam]

Apply heavy fine on Twitter/FB for not complying with Indian laws or not blocking account which promote violence in India or towards Indian citizens.

Like Poland, make laws, which says you cannot block accounts, which don't break Indian laws. Call it "freedom of speech" law.

No patronage by GoI/gov entities towards foreign SM. Heavy support towards Indian SM platform, by making them channel of communications with GoI/gov entities. This will cause Indian citizens to start using Indian SM portals.

Advert money will follow, where there is crowd. All the heavyweights will come, where the money is.. You will have international entities opening accounts on Indian SM, because they want to communicate to Indian populations. Now it is very easy with one platform.

Twitter/FB should be in India, but subjected to heavy competition. Out biggest advantage is our platforms are in English language. We are the real competitor to US based English language platforms.

[AshishA]

Has anyone joined koos? I find the ease of navigation to be good. Btw some might try to defame, spew fake news along these lines-
1) govt watchdog.
2) Founder sanghi
3) Takes away all your data
4) Gives data to govt
5) Spies on you
6) Founder is a scam artist (cite example of freedom 251)
7) Founder anti-national
8. App leftist ploy cuz founder gave interview to NDTV (reverse psychology)
9) Adani Ambani behind this app to take your land, wealth

[Yagnasri]

10. All of the above.

The attacks are Koo are yet to start. It is only start.

[darshan]

How to handle YouTube? More time is spent on YouTube than fb or twitter.

[Dumal]

10. All of the above.

The attacks are Koo are yet to start. It is only start.

Probably already started... https://twitter.com/fs0c131y/status/1359450769439735808?s=19

[asgkhan]

I work in a bank. Let me give one option to the numbnuts in the IT dept. The remittances from the Indian Ads go through a bank.

One order from Fin Min/RBI to stop the banks remitting to Twitter India is enough.

2nd order, throttle the bandwidth.

3rd strike, ban the app.

Zimble no? All that hawa of hooman rights and Freedumb of exprushion will go out of the window.

Miss Kaul has seen the winds and as a intelligent rat abandoned the free spirited ship.

[darshan]

While the fight is being picked by the Twitter that can be sacrificed, GoI should not forget other behemoths that are not coming out in the open so far. Like Google.

Government takes note of Twitter going public with their ‘defiance’, posts response on Twitter alternative Koo
https://www.opindia.com/2021/02/koo-mei ... -response/

[jamwal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygLqwA3 ... e=youtu.be

I just wonder how this AI Mitra got famous as a defence expert. Nothing of value in the video, just a lot of pompous rants. Starts with asking Uttam for Rafale, claims India had AESA tech when we bought Phalcon, India being anthropologically unable to do produce planes and more stupid stuff. I stopped watching after 4-5 minutes.

[Thakur_B]

Isn't AIM related to SuSwamy?

He made his debut during Rafael controversy writing a lifafa article for Rafale which was widely shared even on BRF.

[vijayk]

didnt find you there..
koo profile
see if that works..the app is a bit slow..i guess we have to be a bit patient

Is there a desktop or web version which can be used from my desktop Chrome browser?

can't find any account. We need to be patient

[jamwal]

His mother is Malini something, Lutyens liberal journalist type. Not sure about Swamy.

This Koo is unusable on PC browsers. Can't do anything after OTP entry. I keep social software on phone to an absolute minimum, so no chance of joining it till they fix it.

[Ambar]

Malini Parthasarathy. She and her husband were both high ranking babus and known to be close to Swamy (surprise surprise). How this hotel management grad became a all-in-one defense, strategic affairs, international affairs and politics "expert" i do not know, but i guess in the age of internet and twitter media anyone can be anything. He is routinely invited on Sree Iyer's PGurus youtube channel to rant and fly off the handle against two of his pet peeves - NaMo and BJP, unsurprisingly another preferred guest of PGurus is Su Swamy.

[vipins]

....
No patronage by GoI/gov entities towards foreign SM. Heavy support towards Indian SM platform, by making them channel of communications with GoI/gov entities. This will cause Indian citizens to start using Indian SM portals.
....

This is important. Even lefties will join. Issues related to passports,visa ,BSNL sim, Indian post, banking , consumer grievances , local police support like UP112 etc should be shifted to Indian SM apps only.

[vijayk]

Aashish Chandorkar
@c_aashish
Few years ago, I had written about how one of the features of the Modi government was to create parallel structures rather than battling existing ones
https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/the-five- ... icy-making

Is the same thing happening wrt Twitter? Create redundancy using Koo rather than fight global battles?

https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/the-five- ... icy-making
The Five Unique Features Of Modi Government’s Policy-Making

Ambition At Scale

First, the government has approached change – procedural, behavioural and political – at big scale. The flagship programmes of the government have all been high on ambition.

In some ministries, this means targeting ‘first ever-s’ and ‘for all-s’ with a deadline. Housing is for everyone by 2022. Waterways will be used for the first time for goods and passenger movement. Highway construction rate has to be best ever. Solar power capacity should multiply 50x in eight years. Bank accounts should be for everyone. Power has already reached every village in a time-bound fashion and is expected to reach 40 million households by end of this year.

[RajeevK]

Apply heavy fine on Twitter/FB for not complying with Indian laws or not blocking account which promote violence in India or towards Indian citizens.

Ideally he fine should be a percentage of turnover/assets. otherwise the crooked companies will get around it is by showing loss or going a fixed amount (which suits large companies)

[RajeevK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygLqwA3nPG4&feature=youtu.be

I just wonder how this AI Mitra got famous as a defence expert. Nothing of value in the video, just a lot of pompous rants. Starts with asking Uttam for Rafale, claims India had AESA tech when we bought Phalcon, India being anthropologically unable to do produce planes and more stupid stuff. I stopped watching after 4-5 minutes.

I think he did a bachelor's degree in Hotel Management or something like that in Australia. And then followed up with a Master's degree from Monash University in Australia in International Relations. And with that degree became an expert on everything under the sun moon and the stars. of course, with his background, contacts in Lutyens ecosystem would surely have helped.

[Ambar]

Apply heavy fine on Twitter/FB for not complying with Indian laws or not blocking account which promote violence in India or towards Indian citizens.

Ideally he fine should be a percentage of turnover/assets. otherwise the crooked companies will get around it is by showing loss or going a fixed amount (which suits large companies)

It will invite the wrath of US fining Indian companies operating there or holding back H1bs etc. Everytime EU mulled digital services tax, US has threatened them with tariffs. That said if we are to act upon twitter then now is the time when their political bias is out in the open after US elections and the recent de-platforming of Parler.

[mukkan]

At some point, when it crosses red line government should stop over thinking of consequences and take punitive actions to show who is the boss. That's basic strategy of negotiation. If government is too scared of this or that, they will continue to have upper hand. If Indian government was over thinking of consequences, Pokhran or Ballakot would have never happened. Recent actions by Twitter has crossed the red line.