By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Several X handles critical of the Union government have been withheld in India since Wednesday night (March 18). These included popular parody accounts @Nehr_who, @DrNimoYadav, @indian_armada and @DuckKiBaat; that of journalist and activist Sandeep Singh, (@ActivistSandeep); as well as of Manish RJ (@mrjethwani_) and Dr. Ranjan (@Doc_RGM).
A message on all these pages now reads: “Account withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”
While it is not yet clear what led to the latest orders, these are accounts that have been critical of the Union government’s treatment of minorities, the Israel-US war on Iran and India’s LPG crisis, among other issues, in their posts and in the form of satirical cartoons.
There has been a spurt of takedowns recently against accounts critical of the prime minister or the government, particularly in the wake of the PM’s awkwardly timed visit to Israel, his silence over the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the assassination of its leader and the US sinking of an Iranian naval ship not far from India.
In a statement on Thursday (March 19), the Internet Freedom Foundation also expressed concern over the continuing reports of posts and accounts being withheld in India.
“The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is concerned by continuing reports of posts and accounts being withheld in India on Facebook, X and Instagram, including satire and criticism of the government. Recent reporting shows users receiving generic “withheld in India” notices or emails under Section 69A from social media platforms, with little or no explanation, while independent reporting has documented takedowns affecting speech that appears political, satirical, or critical rather than clearly unlawful,” it said.
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