Almost 30% of MHA’s takedown notices to X target posts on Union Ministers, govt agencies: Report
New Delhi: In a significant revelation, nearly 30% of the 66 takedown notices sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to X (formerly Twitter) over the past year have warned the platform to remove content involving Union Ministers and Central government agencies.
According to court records obtained by The Hindu from the Delhi High Court and the Karnataka High Court, these notices primarily focus on posts about popular leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and his son Jay Shah, as well as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
The report, published on Sunday, revealed that in the past year, the government has issued notices to social media and messaging platforms — including X, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — requesting the removal of over 1.1 lakh pieces of content. These requests were made to address various categories of "unlawful information," such as deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, financial frauds, and "misleading and false information." The content targeted for removal includes posts from political parties, news organisations, and individual users both in India and globally.
One such incident involved AI-generated images targeting Jay Shah in a derogatory light alongside Kavya Maran, the owner of the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team. The I4C flagged the content as a deliberate attempt to defame prominent officials through the misuse of technology. One of the two posts was a fact check debunking the visual, and was not removed by X, while the other was deleted by the user themselves, the report mentioned.
X has also received notices to take down content critical of the Home Ministry’s leadership. In one notice in December, X was notified about 54 posts linking to a manipulated video clip of Amit Shah purporting to show an anti-reservation stance.
Another request involved a post featuring Prime Minister Modi, which referenced a promise to “give the country an account every five years.” The government sought its removal, although the post appears to have been deleted by the user.
Beyond these high-profile cases, the I4C has also issued routine notices. These include takedowns of fraudulent accounts imitating the Cyber Dost helpline and content inciting religious hatred against both Hindus and Muslims.
For nearly two years, these takedown notices remained undisclosed after X ceased publishing details of government requests in April 2023. However, the ongoing legal battle between X and the Union government has brought these details to light, The Hindu added.
At the center of this legal conflict is the SAHYOG portal, which allows law enforcement agencies to send notices under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. X has raised concerns, calling it a “censorship portal” and arguing that it is a circumvention of legal safeguards against censorship in a different section of the same law. The Union government, however, maintains that the notices are not blocking orders but rather serve as warnings to social media platforms about potential liability for unlawful content.
A police official with access to the SAHYOG portal told the news outlet that the system is still in its trial phase, with only a small percentage of notices leading to actual takedown actions. The majority of law enforcement agencies continue to prefer submitting requests directly to platforms instead of going through the SAHYOG portal.
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Uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed votes for NDA: Himanta
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asserted that his government's "uncompromising stand" in taking steps against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed people in favour of the BJP-led NDA in this year's assembly elections, resulting in the alliance securing a two-thirds majority.
He maintained that the NDA's win was a victory for the Assamese indigenous people and affirmed continuing developmental work in the state.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma said, "The double-engine government and unprecedented development the state witnessed in the last five years are among the main reasons for our victory."
"We had assured of securing the Assamese 'jati' (community) and took steps to deliver it. Assam progressed in the cultural and economic sectors. Our uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims also had an impact," he said.
The NDA swept to a third successive term in the state by securing 102 seats in the 126-member state assembly. The BJP won 82 seats, while its allies AGP and Bodoland People's Front bagged 10 each.
On Sarma predicting nearly exact numbers for the alliance before the results, he said the assessment was based on his connect with the people.
"I visited every assembly segment thrice before elections. I have a good mass connect system, which helped in my assessment," he said.
Sarma claimed that recommendations of the Justice (retd) Biplab Sharma committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which deals with constitutional safeguards for the indigenous Assamese population, were implemented by his government.
"It was because of it that the Assamese people won yesterday. It was not just a BJP victory," he asserted.
The CM claimed the NDA secured the support of all sections of people, including Gen Z, which was evident in the young faces fielded by the BJP emerging victorious.
He dismissed the charge that the BJP has an "outsider" among its MLAs, referring to Guwahati Central legislator-elect Vijay Gupta.
"Vijay Gupta is an Assamese. If he is a Bihari, we (ancestors) also came from Kannauj. We all have come from different parts. Mongoloids came from outside, Aryans came from outside. This outsider narrative has been created by you all (media)," Sarma said.
On the Congress' poor poll performance, he maintained that there were very few people in the opposition party who understood the sentiments of the Assamese people.
Otherwise, the Congress would not have brought singer Zubeen Garg's name in its manifesto or levied allegations against an Assamese woman, Sarma added, referring to the opposition party's charges of multiple passports and undisclosed foreign investments of his wife.
The CM also maintained that Raijor Dal could have won four-five seats had it not joined hands with the Congress.
The Congress and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal were part of a six-party opposition alliance that fought the elections together. Congress won 19 seats and Raijor Dal two, with the other allies drawing a blank.
"If Akhil Gogoi had not made the mistake, Sherman Ali Ahmed would have been his MLA today," Sarma said, referring to the expelled Congress leader who won as a TMC candidate after Raijor Dal refused him a ticket owing to the alliance.
On Gogoi being the only opposition MLA to win from a Hindu-majority seat, Sarma said, "It is the people of Sibsagar who decided who will represent them. On my part, it was the only Hindu majority seat where I didn't go to campaign."
"Akhil Gogoi should be kept in the assembly, else he will create chaos on the streets with his protests," Sarma said.
He also claimed that Gogoi had failed to make a single serious speech in the assembly during his first tenure as MLA and dubbed the Raijor Dal president a "comic relief" when the proceedings get dull.
