COVID-19 In IndiA: Criticized, The Government Censors Social Networks

FAce to the rebellion of its inhabitants who massively reprimand its management of the health crisis, the Indian government has decided to censor criticism against it on social networks. As reported The New York Times in an article marked by The world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government recently asked Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to delete a hundred posts criticizing its choices to stem the Covid-19 epidemic.

As India faces a devastating second wave of Covid-19 with more than two million new cases in just seven days, the Indian state has justified this censorship by the “risk of inciting panic, the use of images out of context, and the risk that these messages hinder its action in the face of the pandemic, ”indicates the American daily. The messages in question were therefore deleted from the three social networks. They are no longer visible to Indian Internet users but remain accessible to those who connect from abroad.

Criticized for having organized large political rallies without worrying about social distancing, but also ignored the advice of scientific experts on the risks of easing restrictions, Narendra Modi sees an increase in content pointing to a faltering health system .

Critics of the opposition censored

Among the censored content, some were written by journalists and elected members of the opposition, including at least one deputy, underlines The New York Times. While the government seeks to avoid the “risk of inciting panic” and “the use of out-of-context images”, several of these messages did not seek to spread false information about Covid-19 but to criticize the crisis management by Narendra Modi and his team.

In a radio address on Sunday April 25, the Indian Prime Minister sought to minimize the fallout from these criticisms by saying that the “storm” of infections had left the country “shaken”. These last years, The world points out that India has increased legislation aimed at further censoring social networks to protect itself from criticism. At the beginning of the year, a violent arm wrestling had opposed the main social networks to the Modi government, which demanded the censorship of a large number of activist accounts, while the country was experiencing large demonstrations by farmers.

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