4 ms·

WhatsApp is really a multi-faceted platform in India. It's used by schools to send instructions to parents, used by parents in group chats, used by college stud

by wtmt 8y ago

WhatsApp is really a multi-faceted platform in India. It's used by schools to send instructions to parents, used by parents in group chats, used by college students to discuss their classes, used for complaints to the authorities in some cases, used by authorities to broadcast messages to people in some cases...and it also happens to be the premier platform for spreading hoaxes, scams, junk forwards and fake news. I usually tell people not to believe anything that comes on WhatsApp, because that's how low the general quality of conversation on it happens to be when it's looked at in totality. The Indian government has been curbing free speech and attempting to increase its control on speech over time. People have been wrongly arrested and punished for liking something on Facebook, forwarding something on WhatsApp (that those in power don't like), etc. These incidents only serve to add more fuel to the government and many citizens who actually support higher control and monitoring of all conversations. In the last four years of this central government, the rhetoric of "you don't have to worry if you have nothing to hide" has been doing the rounds among many citizens who would otherwise not support such measures if some other parties were in power. It's as if they can't see the issues or don't want to see the issues. If not for the Supreme Court, which runs on its own pace and rhythm, India would've become an authoritarian "democracy". The only hope, IMO, lies with the judiciary. No political party is different on these lines. Whoever comes to power wants more control and power. Without better education and awareness (with even the so called educated people falling hook, line and sinker to fake news), there's not much hope. It's worrisome how much ammunition these incidents provide to the government to curb speech. P.S.: India has a restricted form of free speech, where vague terms like public order, affecting the sentiments of others on religious grounds, and such can be legally used to deny speech and also punish people arbitrarily. P.P.S: India doesn't yet have a data privacy law either. The very concept of privacy was laughed at for quite sometime, until August 2017 when a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court declared that the constitution, through various articles, does grant privacy as a fundamental right.

walrus01 8y ago
> P.S.: India has a restricted form of free speech, where vague terms like public order, affecting the sentiments of others on religious grounds, and such can be legally used to deny speech and also punish people arbitrarily. That's putting it mildly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2017/india https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2017/india https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/29/india-shut-off-internet-maintain-order/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/29/india-shut-off-internet-...
- strategyanalyst 8y ago
  For a low income developing country, India has relatively higher freedom of speech that you'd expect.
Karishma1234 8y ago
India has no free speech whatsoever. Ironically 1st amendment of Indian constitution took that out. Unlike USA India does not have any right "against government". For example while American bill of rights mostly goes like this "Congress shall not pass any law restricting ....." All Indian rights have a bottom section that says. Indians have right to X. Nothing in this subsection will prevent government from passing any law that violates this section. All Indian constitutional rights are essentially "as long as government likes it".
vthallam 8y ago
Beyond your first 2 arguments I don't believe a thing you said is true or relevant. > The Indian government has been curbing free speech and attempting to increase its control on speech over time. Any specific examples please? > If not for the Supreme Court, which runs on its own pace and rhythm, India would've become an authoritarian "democracy" That's a very stretchy argument. India is not even 2% closer to authoritarian state and with 10's of political parties and a very strong democracy, I don't think we need to worry about that. > India has a restricted form of free speech, where vague terms like public order, affecting the sentiments of others on religious grounds Every country has that. Go say like "X religion is bad or the way things happen with Y religion people is crazy". You don't get to use your freedom of speech to incite anger in the masses. > India doesn't yet have a data privacy law either This is true. India should have a privacy law and I hope it comes sooner than later. But, India is just getting there in terms of digital penetration. So it will take time obviously. Just don't look at the West and feel bad.
- tormeh 8y ago
  >Every country has that. Go say like "X religion is bad or the way things happen with Y religion people is crazy". You don't get to use your freedom of speech to incite anger in the masses. No they don't. The US is pretty unique in having absolute freedom of speech, but plenty of countries leave religion unprotected.
  - zajd 8y ago
    The US does not have "absolute freedom of speech". Try sending a believable death threat to a federal politician on twitter (don't, the secret service will track you down and arrest you- it happens more than you think)
    - outworlder 8y ago
      This is not what freedom of speech means. You can, ie, argue how death penalties should be applied to politicians who violate a certain rule. You cannot and should not be able to threaten one specific individual. If anything, we need more of that kind of enforcement. So many deaths could be prevented if only all jurisdictions handled this matter as seriously as the Secret Service does. EDIT: wording
notadoc 8y ago
> I usually tell people not to believe anything that comes from the internet, because that's how low the general quality of conversation on it happens to be when it's looked at in totality. Fixed that for you. It's far beyond WhatsApp, it's every social media site, every fake news site, almost everything. Assume everything is fake until proven otherwise.

by wtmt 8y ago

walrus01 8y ago

> P.S.: India has a restricted form of free speech, where vague terms like public order, affecting the sentiments of others on religious grounds, and such can be legally used to deny speech and also punish people arbitrarily. That's putting it mildly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2017/india https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2017/india https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/29/india-shut-off-internet-maintain-order/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/29/india-shut-off-internet-...

strategyanalyst 8y ago
For a low income developing country, India has relatively higher freedom of speech that you'd expect.

Karishma1234 8y ago

India has no free speech whatsoever. Ironically 1st amendment of Indian constitution took that out. Unlike USA India does not have any right "against government". For example while American bill of rights mostly goes like this "Congress shall not pass any law restricting ....." All Indian rights have a bottom section that says. Indians have right to X. Nothing in this subsection will prevent government from passing any law that violates this section. All Indian constitutional rights are essentially "as long as government likes it".

vthallam 8y ago

Beyond your first 2 arguments I don't believe a thing you said is true or relevant. > The Indian government has been curbing free speech and attempting to increase its control on speech over time. Any specific examples please? > If not for the Supreme Court, which runs on its own pace and rhythm, India would've become an authoritarian "democracy" That's a very stretchy argument. India is not even 2% closer to authoritarian state and with 10's of political parties and a very strong democracy, I don't think we need to worry about that. > India has a restricted form of free speech, where vague terms like public order, affecting the sentiments of others on religious grounds Every country has that. Go say like "X religion is bad or the way things happen with Y religion people is crazy". You don't get to use your freedom of speech to incite anger in the masses. > India doesn't yet have a data privacy law either This is true. India should have a privacy law and I hope it comes sooner than later. But, India is just getting there in terms of digital penetration. So it will take time obviously. Just don't look at the West and feel bad.

tormeh 8y ago
>Every country has that. Go say like "X religion is bad or the way things happen with Y religion people is crazy". You don't get to use your freedom of speech to incite anger in the masses. No they don't. The US is pretty unique in having absolute freedom of speech, but plenty of countries leave religion unprotected.
- zajd 8y ago
  The US does not have "absolute freedom of speech". Try sending a believable death threat to a federal politician on twitter (don't, the secret service will track you down and arrest you- it happens more than you think)
  - outworlder 8y ago
    This is not what freedom of speech means. You can, ie, argue how death penalties should be applied to politicians who violate a certain rule. You cannot and should not be able to threaten one specific individual. If anything, we need more of that kind of enforcement. So many deaths could be prevented if only all jurisdictions handled this matter as seriously as the Secret Service does. EDIT: wording

notadoc 8y ago

> I usually tell people not to believe anything that comes from the internet, because that's how low the general quality of conversation on it happens to be when it's looked at in totality. Fixed that for you. It's far beyond WhatsApp, it's every social media site, every fake news site, almost everything. Assume everything is fake until proven otherwise.