Indian authorities have reportedly given an ultimatum to US social media platforms, threatening jail time for their local employees if the companies continue to ignore official takedown requests against “damaging” information.Freedom of speech runs up against reality — national security as sovereign states define it.
Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have each received written notices warning their employees could face arrest should the requests be ignored, in some cases citing specific India-based staff by name, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing “people familiar” with the matter....
As Big Tech firms seek their way into India’s massive market, the country recently imposed new rules to govern social media platforms, requiring them to appoint India-based representatives to coordinate with law enforcement and government agencies. The restrictions can also compel sites to scrub content the state believes to undermine national security or public order. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the minister of electronics and information technology, argued the rules would force the companies to be “more responsible and more accountable,” after previously blasting sites like Twitter for “double standards” in enforcing their policies.China just shuts them out.
RT
India threatens to jail Facebook, WhatsApp & Twitter staff over refusal to wipe data that ‘undermines national security’ – reports
3 comments:
Must be some salacious data!
"National security" has two major imperatives:
- covering up the crimes of government officials
- crushing internal dissent.
Geopolitics is another imperative, whereby rivals are accused of:
- engaging in censorship
- covering up the crimes of government officials
- crushing internal dissent.
I agree with Peter Pan: India is probably trying to cover up crimes of government officials.
All the same, I am in stitches at the fact that social media platforms have been telling us for years what we're allowed to say and what we can't say, but now the the tables are turned: social media platforms are being told what THEY CAN SAY.
Ha, ha, ha, ha. Serve them right.
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