Union Minister of State Rajiv Chandrashekhar reacted to the Pakistan government’s Twitter handle being blocked in India and said that any account that spreads hate on social media will be blocked by the Indian government.
While talking to ANI, the MoS said, “Any account on Twitter or any other social media platform, which spreads fake news, propagates hate, and violates the law, won’t be allowed to function in the country.”
“There are 80 crore users connected to the Internet in the country, and we want it to grow to 120 crores. We want our Internet to be trusted. So if any handle is telling lies, or putting unlawful content, then we will definitely try to block it. We believe that the Internet should be used for people’s welfare and not for misguiding them,” Chandrashekhar said.
Earlier today, the Twitter account of the Pakistani government was withheld in India. This is reportedly the second such incident in recent months.
This account was withheld earlier in July as well but had been reactivated and was visible. Today, again the account displayed the message of being withheld in India.
“@GovtofPakistan account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand,” is seen while accessing the Twitter handle.
According to Twitter guidelines, the microblogging site takes such action in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order.
Currently, the Twitter feed of the Pakistan government “@GovtofPakistan” is not visible to Indian users.
Previously, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had blocked 16 YouTube news channels including six Pakistan-based channels for spreading disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations, and public order.
So far, the central government has blocked over 100 YouTube channels, 4 Facebook pages, 5 Twitter accounts, and 3 Instagram accounts for spreading hate content against India. (ANI)