Twitter has removed over 50 posts from its platform following orders from the government. The majority of these tweets were critical of the Centre’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as India grappled with a record number of cases amid shortage of beds and medical oxygen.
Also read: Twitter bans posts that ‘dehumanise’ people in connection with diseases
Many of the removed tweets had content related to shortage of medicine, beds, mass cremations, and the gathering of crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the pandemic. While blocked for viewing in India, these tweets will continue to remain visible outside the country.
Some of the verified accounts for which the tweets have been removed include, Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera, Member of Parliament Revanth Reddy, a minister from West Bengal Moloy Ghatak, ABP News editor Pankaj Jha, Actor Vineet Kumar Singh, filmmaker Avinash Das and filmmaker and former journalist Vinod Kapri.
The details of the order received by Twitter have been put up on the Lumen database, a project of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University that collects and analyzes requests to remove material from the web.
This story was first reported by technology news website Medianama.
Earlier in February, the Centre had asked Twitter to remove nearly 1,200 accounts that had posted content related to ‘farmer genocide’ amid the ongoing protests by farmers against the new farm laws.
