NOIDA: The Uttar Pradesh Government has initiated action against Twitter India for failing to take down tweets that spread misinformation about a crime in the state. An FIR has been lodged against the social media platform in connection with the same.
In the incident, a Muslim man was beaten up by a few individuals, however, alleged fact-checkers gave a communal colour to the crime by saying that he was beaten for refusing to chant Jai Shri Ram. However, after investigating the matter, the Ghaziabad Police has debunked the fictional narrative spread with the intent to spark communal tensions. The original video was examined, which showed no mention of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
As SM giant Twitter has lost its intermediary status in India for not complying with the new Information Technology Rules, which came into force on May 26, reports Times of India.
According to the reports, as Twitter India did not comply with IT rules enforced by the Indian government and failed to appoint statutory compliance officers criminally liable for the content posted on the platform within the given time, the intermediary status of the platform has automatically lapsed.
The loss of intermediary status could mean that its top executives, including the country managing director, may now face police questioning and criminal liability under IPC over “unlawful” and “inflammatory” content posted on the platform by any user. The legal immunity that was provided to Twitter over content moderation in the country is officially over now.
The Indian government is reportedly unhappy with the brazenness of the social media company, which have been continuously evading compliance with Indian rules. The government believes that repeated reminders and even the temporary relaxation that was extended to social media giant as a “goodwill gesture” has not yielded results.
The Ghaziabad Police had said that the ‘victim’ Abdul Samad Saifi was allegedly beaten up by people known to him after an occult amulet he had prepared for one of them did not work as promised. Accused Parvesh Gujjar, Adil and Kallu were arrested on Monday while efforts were on to nab Arif and Poli.
Following the investigation by the Uttar Pradesh police, a case against Twitter was registered for failing to take any action against the manipulated media.
The FIR filed by UP Police names Alt News co-founder Md Zubair, who had shared a video of the incident with muted audio and had claimed that the old man was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Other accused named in the FIR include Rana Ayyub, leftist propaganda site The Wire, Salman Nizami, Maksoor Usmani, Congress spokesperson Dr Sama Mohammad, Saba Naqvi, Twitter Inc, and Twitter Communications India Ltd.