Ministry has asked social media companies to remove misinformation on COVID-19

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others to remove about 100 posts and some content that it alleged were unrelated, old and out of the context images or visuals, communally sensitive posts and misinformation about COVID19 protocols.

The latest communication was sent by MeitY was based on recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which flagged these URLs as “communally sensitive”. Senior Officials in the ministry said that while social media could and was being used to criticise the government, seek help and even offer suggestions on handling of Covid-19 pandemic, it was also “necessary to take action against those users who are misusing social media during this grave humanitarian crisis for unethical purposes”.

The action by MeitY comes a day after Twitter reported it had taken down or restricted access to over 50 tweets flagged by the Central government, through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the past one month.

As per the information submitted by Twitter on the Lumen Database, some of the URLs whose access has now been blocked in India, contained information about the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic and were critical of the government’s handling of the same. Some other posts and URLs, on the other hand, showed pictures and videos of the recent Maoist ambush in Chattisgarh that left as many as 22 police personnel dead.