3 ms·

Is it? I don't know the particulars of India's constitution but suppressing speech like this is generally frowned upon by democracies.

portpecos 5y ago
What's the difference between #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide and #StopTheSteal from a free speech perspective?
- xNeil 5y ago
  My question exactly - I'd love to hear someone's take on this. Both are misinformation campaigns, and both result in violence. I don't see why Trump should be banned but accounts tweeting that the government is planning a genocide should not (be banned). I'd say both bans were fair.
  - meepmorp 5y ago
    I think people are wary about a government making an official demand that content be removed. Trump's ban was entirely Twitter's own decision; by contrast, the Indian government seeks to compel removal of material. I don't have a problem, per se, with governments having the ability to remove content from public platforms on public safety or security grounds. But the Modi government has also sought to remove content that's much less plausibly likely to inflame public violence, in particular related to its handling of COVID.
mrguyorama 5y ago
Plenty of democracies have stricter stances on libel, which such a hashtag could be argued to be
ridiculous_leke 5y ago
India might be an exception in that case. India has strong hate speech laws which are routinely used against journalists.
alex_smart 5y ago
Both Japan and South Korea made more legal demands for takedown of tweets than India (with Japan making 8 times more takedown requests than India). Are they also not democracies? Source: https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/removal-requests.html https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/removal-requests...
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  Given the fact that the LDP has been ruling Japan nationally for essentially 50 years uninterrupted and every single South Korean president resigned in disgrace, it's a better question that one would think.

portpecos 5y ago

What's the difference between #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide and #StopTheSteal from a free speech perspective?

xNeil 5y ago
My question exactly - I'd love to hear someone's take on this. Both are misinformation campaigns, and both result in violence. I don't see why Trump should be banned but accounts tweeting that the government is planning a genocide should not (be banned). I'd say both bans were fair.
- meepmorp 5y ago
  I think people are wary about a government making an official demand that content be removed. Trump's ban was entirely Twitter's own decision; by contrast, the Indian government seeks to compel removal of material. I don't have a problem, per se, with governments having the ability to remove content from public platforms on public safety or security grounds. But the Modi government has also sought to remove content that's much less plausibly likely to inflame public violence, in particular related to its handling of COVID.

mrguyorama 5y ago

Plenty of democracies have stricter stances on libel, which such a hashtag could be argued to be

ridiculous_leke 5y ago

India might be an exception in that case. India has strong hate speech laws which are routinely used against journalists.

alex_smart 5y ago

Both Japan and South Korea made more legal demands for takedown of tweets than India (with Japan making 8 times more takedown requests than India). Are they also not democracies? Source: https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/removal-requests.html https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/removal-requests...

sudosysgen 5y ago
Given the fact that the LDP has been ruling Japan nationally for essentially 50 years uninterrupted and every single South Korean president resigned in disgrace, it's a better question that one would think.