INDIA BLOCKS TWEETS SHARING BBC DOCUMENTARY CRITICAL OF INDIAN PM MODI: SOURCES

Sat 21 January 2023:

The Indian government has ordered Twitter and YouTube to take down links of a BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, people with direct knowledge of the matter have said.

Many tweets and YouTube videos of the documentary titled “India: The Modi Question” no longer appear on the microblogging and video-sharing websites.

The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry told the two social media giants to block the first episode of the documentary by BBC, people familiar with the matter said, a day after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak distanced himself from the documentary series, saying he “doesn’t agree with the characterisation” of his Indian counterpart in the UK’s parliament by Pakistan-origin MP Imran Hussain.

The ministry told Twitter to remove over 50 tweets on the documentary by Britain’s national broadcaster, the people said.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien was among some opposition leaders whose tweet on the documentary was removed by Twitter.

INDIA SAYS BBC FILM ON MODI’S ROLE IN GUJARAT RIOTS ‘PROPAGANDA’

“Censorship. Twitter has taken down my tweet of the BBC documentary. It received lakhs of views. The one-hour BBC documentary exposes how PM hates minorities,” Mr O’Brien alleged.

The I&B Ministry gave the order to take down the links using emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and both YouTube and Twitter have agreed to follow the order, people with knowledge of the matter said.

India has called the documentary a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.

The government has also told YouTube and Twitter to take down fresh links of the documentary if some people upload or tweet them again, sources said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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