In a baffling turn of events, Twitter has resorted to hiding the contents of a recent tweet sent by PM Narendra Modi to commemorate the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Empire. Modi had shared a video on Twitter, paying his respects to the illustrious ruler and military commander. Highlighting the influence of Shivaji on Indians, he stated that “the saga of his indomitable courage, amazing valour and extraordinary intelligence will continue to inspire countrymen for ages”.
In what can only be called as outright censorship, the social media giant hid the video shared by the PM, saying that the media “includes potentially sensitive content.”
Army veteran and BJP member Major Surendra Poonia shared a screenshot of the Prime Minister’s Twitter timeline in a tweet and questioned what exactly in PM Modi’s tweet had been deemed “sensitive” by Twitter. “Strange & Suspicious ! So after Trump our Prime Minister Sh @narendramodi is on target of Social Media giants ?? @PMOIndia @rsprasad What is sensitive in this tweet of PM?”, he tweeted.
Strange & Suspicious !
So after Trump our Prime Minister Sh @narendramodi is on target of Social Media giants ??@PMOIndia @rsprasad
What is sensitive in this tweet of PM ? pic.twitter.com/dqIMA5Tijx— Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) February 19, 2021
Twitter has had run-ins with the Indian government earlier. Recently, Twitter locked horns with the Indian administration over the company allowing several accounts to disseminate inflammatory and malicious propaganda on the social media platform against India and the Centre’s farm laws. The government had asked Twitter to curtail the “motivated campaigns” and the use of a controversial hashtag around PM Narendra Modi on the platform. The government had alleged that the platform was being used to “abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds.”
The government had warned Twitter that failure to comply with its order would invite action against the company under Section 69A [3] of the IT Act, under which senior officials of the micro-blogging site could face a jail term of up to seven years, and a financial penalty.
Twitter then deactivated 126 of the 257 handles that had originally tweeted using the controversial hashtag, The micro-blogging site also deactivated 583 of the 1,178 handles that the government suspected to have links with Khalistani and Pakistani elements.
Social media monopolies like Twitter and Facebook have faced a lot of flak globally when they banned former US President Donald Trump from using their platforms when he was still in office. The tech giants had also banned several pro-Trump and Republican accounts, many of whom had alleged electoral fraud in the 2020 US Presidential elections.
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