Social Media Watch Thread

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 21 Feb 2021 21:40

UP Police register case against 8 Twitter handles including Barkha Dutt’s The Mojo Story for fake news on Unnao case
https://www.opindia.com/2021/02/fir-fil ... nnao-case/
...
The case has been registered under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act against The Mojo Story (Barkha Dutt’s news agency), @NilimDutta (Chairman of Unified People’s Movement), @janjagranlive (News agency), @SurajKrBaudh (Spokesperson Azad Samaj Party), @VijayAmbedkarUP (Jai Bhim IT team), @Abhaykumarazad9 (Bhim Army Member), @Rahuldiwkr (Gadge Youth Brigade leader) and @BhimSenaChief (Nawab Satpal Tanwar).
....

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 22 Feb 2021 03:27

darshan wrote:
UP Police register case against 8 Twitter handles including Barkha Dutt’s The Mojo Story for fake news on Unnao case
https://www.opindia.com/2021/02/fir-fil ... nnao-case/
...
The case has been registered under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act against The Mojo Story (Barkha Dutt’s news agency), @NilimDutta (Chairman of Unified People’s Movement), @janjagranlive (News agency), @SurajKrBaudh (Spokesperson Azad Samaj Party), @VijayAmbedkarUP (Jai Bhim IT team), @Abhaykumarazad9 (Bhim Army Member), @Rahuldiwkr (Gadge Youth Brigade leader) and @BhimSenaChief (Nawab Satpal Tanwar).
....

I think they need to file cases against Twitter too

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 22 Feb 2021 12:24

X-post from 2021 Strategic and Political Analysis Dhagga...........

Govt working on law to regulate social media: Ram Madhav
PTI Last Updated: Feb 21, 2021, 01:55 PM IST

Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said that social media has become so powerful that it can even topple governments, leading to anarchy and weakening democracy, and solutions to tackle this are needed to be found within the constitutional framework.

"Social media is so powerful that it can even topple governments and regulating them is difficult as they are borderless. These forces can promote anarchy, which will weaken democracy but solutions should be within the constitutional framework," he said at the event hosted by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation on Saturday evening.
The existing laws are not adequate for this, he said. "We require new rules and laws to tackle and manage. The government is already working in this direction. he added.

Read full story from// Nicey wala ET Link

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... content=23

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 25 Feb 2021 14:15

New IT rules: Social media platforms must remove content within 36 hours of govt order
MONEYCONTROL NEWS FEBRUARY 25, 2021 / 01:17 PM IST

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter must remove content as early as possible, but not later than 36 hours, after a government or legal order, according to new Information Technology rules released on February 25.

These companies must also provide inform and help with investigations within 72 hours of a request from authorities, said the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, a copy of which Moneycontrol reviewed.

Platforms must remove content that depicts an individual in a sexual act or conduct, or in full or partial nudity, within 24 hours of receiving a complaint.
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Furthermore, platforms should appoint a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) within 3 months from the date of publication of these rules. The CCO shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and rules. They should also appoint a nodal person of contact for 24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and officers to ensure compliance with their orders or requisitions made in accordance with the provisions of law or rules made thereunder.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/techn ... 72181.html

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 25 Feb 2021 17:18

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 26 Feb 2021 00:56

Mollick.R wrote:New IT rules: Social media platforms must remove content within 36 hours of govt order
MONEYCONTROL NEWS FEBRUARY 25, 2021 / 01:17 PM IST

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter must remove content as early as possible, but not later than 36 hours, after a government or legal order, according to new Information Technology rules released on February 25.

These companies must also provide inform and help with investigations within 72 hours of a request from authorities, said the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, a copy of which Moneycontrol reviewed.

Platforms must remove content that depicts an individual in a sexual act or conduct, or in full or partial nudity, within 24 hours of receiving a complaint.
.
.
.
.
Furthermore, platforms should appoint a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) within 3 months from the date of publication of these rules. The CCO shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and rules. They should also appoint a nodal person of contact for 24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and officers to ensure compliance with their orders or requisitions made in accordance with the provisions of law or rules made thereunder.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/techn ... 72181.html

We need some liability/criminal clauses to hold executives responsible
Even let people sue them for violation of privacy/bullying

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 26 Feb 2021 01:25

Rishi Bagree Flag of India
@rishibagree
· 10h
Govt puts out user base (in crores) of Big Tech social media players in India

53 Whatsapp
45 YouTube
41 Facebook
21 Instagram
2 Twitter

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 26 Feb 2021 07:47

Not surprising, so whatsapp has 100% penetration in India smartphones. So much power never seen before!

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 27 Feb 2021 07:32

Not sure why this couldn't have been on some desi platforms. Any interested party would have been forced to adapt.

Gujarat High Court to have its channel on Telegram app
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/02/26/ ... egram-app/
In a first, the Gujarat High Court has made announcement to start from 1st March, its own channel at messaging app Telegram to give updates on daily notices, cause lists, circulars, press releases, Youtube Live streaming links, miscellaneous notifications etc. The High Court is the first in the country to have started live streaming of proceeding from chief justice court on YouTube on trial basis.

Kaivalya · Post by **Kaivalya** » 27 Feb 2021 10:10

Here is another dimension to SM :

Stock market tips that can make a stock go from almost zero to relatively a lot. Legal implications are good and bad. We dont have to invoke national security to muzzle SM : common sense based law will do :

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/ ... 12746.html

In my opinion SEC is trying to control trading which is the only thing they are empowered to do. That is only mitigating the secondary effect - primary effect being unverified garbage posted.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 02 Mar 2021 21:48

Twitter forces user to delete tweet highlighting Hindu victims of Godhra massacre, days after it refused to block fake news
https://www.opindia.com/2021/03/twitter ... -massacre/

A user said that her account was locked for a period of time for posting a photograph of the Godhra Massacre with the caption ‘Never Forget’. The user was asked by Twitter to delete the tweet in order to regain access to her account or she could appeal against the action.

Concerns regarding Twitter’s left-wing bias with regards to censorship has been a dominant concern for quite some time. While tweets highlighting the Hindu victims of Godhra massacre were forced to be deleted, the platform refused to block accounts and tweets that peddled incendiary fake news capable of inciting law and order unrest in the country during the farmer protests.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Mar 2021 22:16

darshan wrote:Not sure why this couldn't have been on some desi platforms. Any interested party would have been forced to adapt.
Gujarat High Court to have its channel on Telegram app
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2021/02/26/ ... egram-app/
In a first, the Gujarat High Court has made announcement to start from 1st March, its own channel at messaging app Telegram to give updates on daily notices, cause lists, circulars, press releases, Youtube Live streaming links, miscellaneous notifications etc. The High Court is the first in the country to have started live streaming of proceeding from chief justice court on YouTube on trial basis.

IIRC, telegram is a desi app.

it has been midwifed by one of the airtel group's owner's sons who apparently is the app owner.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 02 Mar 2021 22:24

Uh no... it was started by 2 Russians. There is nothing Indian about it remotely.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Mar 2021 22:52

Tanaji wrote:Uh no... it was started by 2 Russians. There is nothing Indian about it remotely.

Sorry, I was thinking Hike. My bad

Hike Messenger, also called Hike Sticker Chat, was an Indian freeware, cross-platform instant messaging (IM), Voice over IP (VoIP) application which was launched on 12 December 2012 by Kavin Bharti Mittal and is now owned by Hike Private Limited.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 04 Mar 2021 19:17

UP CM Yogi Adityanath Joins Homegrown Twitter Rival Koo, Gains Over 57,000 Followers In Few Days
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/up-cm-yog ... n-few-days

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 05 Mar 2021 02:12

Lot of funds were diverted from many companies in disguise of supporting BLM. Need to continue to track this Sleazy.

Jack Dorsey's Square acquires Jay-Z's Tidal music service for $297 million
https://www.androidcentral.com/jack-dor ... 97-million
Square will be paying $297 million in a mix of cash and stock to acquire the significant majority stake in Tidal. While Jay-Z will be joining Square's board of directors, the original artists will become the second-largest group of shareholders in the music streaming service. Some of the co-owners of the service include Kanye West, Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Beyoncé, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, and Daft Punk.

The Tidal acquisition isn't likely to bring in additional revenue for Square. The company says it doesn't expect the deal to have any significant on its sales or profit in the near future.

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 05 Mar 2021 21:41

BJP government's soft hand approach of issuing just guidelines without any real power to enforce is another wasted effort. SC asks center to frame rules.

SC: Centre's current guidelines to regulate social media, OTT platforms lack "teeth"
SC: Centre's current rules for OTT platforms don't allow pre-screening or punitive action
Centre to place apt regulation, law on OTT platforms before SC in 2 weeks
https://www.timesnownews.com/india/arti ... rms/728534

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 06 Mar 2021 02:26

^
For Nehru, ‘freedom’ was only for himself

One point made in this article is that Indian history books are not accurate because of the fear of running afoul of the first amendment. I wonder if the BJP is uncomfortable with using the power granted by the first amendment as it seems to be used only as an eyewash.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 06 Mar 2021 19:08

Actually adding teeth coz SC asked for it is to deflect "authoritarian" labelling. Why this govt treads so carefully ?!

Y I Patel · Post by **Y I Patel** » 08 Mar 2021 08:18

I just made my first two posts on koo - appropriately enough, rarely seen photographs of Sia La. Check out @yogipatel on koo

https://www.kooapp.com/koo/YIPatel-3T905/FNRM5

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 08 Mar 2021 14:09

Y I Patel wrote:I just made my first two posts on koo - appropriately enough, rarely seen photographs of Sia La. Check out @yogipatel on koo

https://www.kooapp.com/koo/YIPatel-3T905/FNRM5

Says page not found. Does one need to have an account to view it?

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 08 Mar 2021 15:21

^ These 2 are working. No account required

https://www.kooapp.com/koo/YIPatel-3T905/FNTSH
https://www.kooapp.com/koo/YIPatel-3T905/FNQRD

rajkumar · Post by **rajkumar** » 08 Mar 2021 15:33

Y I Patel wrote:I just made my first two posts on koo - appropriately enough, rarely seen photographs of Sia La. Check out @yogipatel on koo

https://www.kooapp.com/koo/YIPatel-3T905/FNRM5

Just followed you on Koo.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 09 Mar 2021 02:18

U.S. Embassy India
@USAndIndia
In India’s noisy media landscape, #WomanOfCourage Manisha Pande stands out! Manisha’s expose on corruption in India's public sector won her Ramnath Goenka Award for Best Investigative Reporting & Laadli Media Award for highlighting gender inequality in newsrooms. @newslaundry
https://twitter.com/USAndIndia/status/1 ... 0203507717

US for newslaundry? Which is a complete naxal newsrag!

lets see this as US storm troopers firing second round of salvo .
First round was greta, rhianna which was effectively rebutted w help of sports stars.
This round we have 2 US official handles involved
-Freedom House
-US embassay

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 09 Mar 2021 05:08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhRi7gl ... nnel=TAGTV

There are also good guys on social media. The problem is not that the medium is the message, apropos the Canadian Marshall Mcluhan.

(I am not sure who this gentlemen is, but Tahir Gora may be another crypto Hindu).

ashbhee · Post by **ashbhee** » 09 Mar 2021 21:48

Are there any Redditors here? India subreddit is totally run by anti India forces. It is disgusting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/india/

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 09 Mar 2021 22:04

ashbhee wrote:Are there any Redditors here? India subreddit is totally run by anti India forces. It is disgusting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/india/

Many Indian govt institutions are run by BIF.
Please see previous discussion on this Reddit topic on BRF.

bharathp · Post by **bharathp** » 10 Mar 2021 01:35

ashbhee wrote:Are there any Redditors here? India subreddit is totally run by anti India forces. It is disgusting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/india/

i was banned there for digging up the real data from some of their posts and showing its biased.
i now exclusively go to r/indianews

its an echo chamber everywhere. why should we be the only ones wanting to change the narrative - let them come and challenge us at some place. it wont make a difference if they pat each other on their backs.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 10 Mar 2021 04:05

There needs to be a digital property law. Service providers arbitrarily delete accounts even the paid ones. Even having Indian platforms doesn't solve this fundamental problem of someone deleting your data.

‘Maybe coz I tweeted against Greta Thunberg and Disha Ravi’, says French journalist Francois Gautier after Twitter arbitrarily deletes his account
https://www.opindia.com/2021/03/twitter ... g-toolkit/

Begrudged by the fact that his Twitter account @fgautier26, where he had 71,000 followers, was suddenly deleted, without him being given any specific reason for the same, the author of many books and curator of the Facts Museum that exposes the truth about the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb, opined that Twitter might have taken this arbitrary decision because he had tweeted against Child-activist Greta Thunberg and ‘climate activist’ Disha Ravi.

V_Raman · Post by **V_Raman** » 10 Mar 2021 04:13

https://www.opindia.com/2021/03/tenzing ... -rohingya/

This is another unique self-defeating Indian trait - faced this in many discussions where my fellow Indian in the group would say some negative thing when I say something positive.

Maybe the reason is from the cultural concept of nazar lag jaayegi - so we are compelled to say something negative about ourselves....

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 10 Mar 2021 05:16

V_Raman wrote:https://www.opindia.com/2021/03/tenzing ... -rohingya/

This is another unique self-defeating Indian trait - faced this in many discussions where my fellow Indian in the group would say some negative thing when I say something positive.

Maybe the reason is from the cultural concept of nazar lag jaayegi - so we are compelled to say something negative about ourselves....

In this case, I don't think so. Nirupama S. has her head full of romantic black-and-white images of an India that is generous to refugees with extra points if the refugees are Muslims; that India is now saddled with a mean-minded Hindu fascist low-caste Modi government that has ruined this noble and generous spirit. I know the type.

The general phenomenon of fellow Indians reflexively saying something negative when you say something positive is probably just envy: they are just trying to devalue what you said and take you down because you stood up and said something. In such cases, the people involved are actually perfectly nice people, but this kind of urge to pull down someone in a group situation seems to be an instinctive response. I don't think it has to do with nazar or drishTi-dOsham, though arguably the nazar or d-d itself is a conceptualization of the negative power of envy.(I could be totally wrong in imagining that this applies to your situation, it's all just guesswork, though the envy instinct is a real thing that I observed)

Many years ago I read an article by the late Nirad Chaudhari called "Envy as a part of our national character" in which he dwelt on this concept. I resented it very much then as being anti-Indian, but experience and the maturity of the years has brought me around to think that he probably had a solid point.

V_Raman · Post by **V_Raman** » 10 Mar 2021 05:20

Would love to get a link to that for reading/understanding.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 10 Mar 2021 05:22

V_Raman wrote:Would love to get a link to that for reading/understanding.

It was a very long time ago, I have searched online off-and-on for that essay without success. It originally appeared in the old Illustrated Weekly of India.

V_Raman · Post by **V_Raman** » 10 Mar 2021 05:31

Here is a collection of his work - https://statweb.stanford.edu/~naras/ncc-prev/ - any links here?

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 10 Mar 2021 10:17

Good news everyone -

https://twitter.com/MeghUpdates/status/ ... 6371869698

BIG : After winding India Operations and GOI Blocking of Financial back sourcing , Liberal Torch bearer Huffington Post Fires 1/3rd of it's Journalists Worldwide

nandakumar · Post by **nandakumar** » 10 Mar 2021 10:53

KLNMurthy wrote:
V_Raman wrote:https://www.opindia.com/2021/03/tenzing ... -rohingya/

This is another unique self-defeating Indian trait - faced this in many discussions where my fellow Indian in the group would say some negative thing when I say something positive.

Maybe the reason is from the cultural concept of nazar lag jaayegi - so we are compelled to say something negative about ourselves....
In this case, I don't think so. Nirupama S. has her head full of romantic black-and-white images of an India that is generous to refugees with extra points if the refugees are Muslims; that India is now saddled with a mean-minded Hindu fascist low-caste Modi government that has ruined this noble and generous spirit. I know the type.

The general phenomenon of fellow Indians reflexively saying something negative when you say something positive is probably just envy: they are just trying to devalue what you said and take you down because you stood up and said something. In such cases, the people involved are actually perfectly nice people, but this kind of urge to pull down someone in a group situation seems to be an instinctive response. I don't think it has to do with nazar or drishTi-dOsham, though arguably the nazar or d-d itself is a conceptualization of the negative power of envy.(I could be totally wrong in imagining that this applies to your situation, it's all just guesswork, though the envy instinct is a real thing that I observed)

Many years ago I read an article by the late Nirad Chaudhari called "Envy as a part of our national character" in which he dwelt on this concept. I resented it very much then as being anti-Indian, but experience and the maturity of the years has brought me around to think that he probably had a solid point.

You are spot on. At my tennis club there was a person- an otherwise rock solid and a nice blocke- would go to extreme lengths to contest even perfectly harmless and self evident assertions. Suppose you say, "I saw a black crow". He would say, " tch... tch.... that was only an optical illusion caused by the white rays of the sun reflecting on green leafy tops of trees" or something like that. Now if you say, "Yeah, perhaps you are right" he would have a counter to that, too. He would say, "Don't be so naive. You would believe anything that anybody says. You must learn to think rationally" and so on. People at the club had come to terms with it over time. They would sometimes even joke about it.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 10 Mar 2021 12:49

sanjaykumar wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhRi7gl ... nnel=TAGTV

There are also good guys on social media. The problem is not that the medium is the message, apropos the Canadian Marshall Mcluhan.

(I am not sure who this gentlemen is, but Tahir Gora may be another crypto Hindu).

That McLuhan quote never made sense. To me, atleast. too much of advertisement speak for my taste, eh?!

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 10 Mar 2021 18:01

Twitter sues Texas attorney general, claiming retaliation for Trump ban

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming the Republican used his office to retaliate against it for banning the account of former President Donald Trump following the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Days after the deadly January insurrection, Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter and four other major technology companies for what he called “the seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the President.” The attorney general’s office demanded that the companies produce a variety of records related to their content moderation policies and troves of internal communications.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 10 Mar 2021 18:46

After India's big punch to twitter's jaw, the russkies have just sandbagged him.

more affected countries will follow to teach this arrogant commie and also a religious bigot a lesson that he will not easily forget.

Russia moves to slow Twitter's speed after protest row, threatens total block

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it was slowing down the speed of Twitter in retaliation for its alleged failure to remove banned content, and threatened a total block if the U.S. platform did not comply with its deletion demands.

The move, which escalates a growing stand-off between Moscow and U.S. social media firms, comes weeks after Russian authorities accused Twitter and others of failing to delete posts it said illegally urged children to take part in anti-Kremlin protests.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia has traditionally taken a more hands-off role in policing the internet than neighbouring China. But as domestic political tensions have risen this year over the arrest and jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny - which triggered nationwide protests - it has signalled a tougher line.

Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, said in a statement that as of Wednesday there were more than 3,000 posts containing illegal content on Twitter, which it accused of ignoring its deletion requests for years.

Twitter was already under pressure in Russia after it was named as one of five social media platforms being sued for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal protests, the Interfax news agency cited a Moscow court as saying on Tuesday.

The regulator did not mention content related to opposition protests in Wednesday's statement, but referred to what it said was illegal content on Twitter containing child *****, information about drug abuse and calls for minors to commit suicide.

"The slowing down will be applied to 100% of mobile devices and on 50% of non-mobile devices," the regulator said.

"If (Twitter) continues to ignore the requirements of the law, the enforcement measures will be continued... (right up to blocking it)," the regulator said.

The move would affect video and photo content but not text, Interfax cited a regulatory official as saying.

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 10 Mar 2021 20:07

KLNMurthy wrote:In this case, I don't think so. Nirupama S. has her head full of romantic black-and-white images of an India that is generous to refugees with extra points if the refugees are Muslims; that India is now saddled with a mean-minded Hindu fascist low-caste Modi government that has ruined this noble and generous spirit. I know the type.

At one point of time she was a correspondent of The Hindu in Pakistan.