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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TN Assembly elections: Eight-month pregnant homemaker wins Thiru Vi Ka Nagar seat for TVK
Chennai (PTI): Before giving birth, she had already delivered a mandate—a symbol of hope for Thiru Vi Ka Nagar.
Echoing Delhi’s 2013 “common citizen” political churn associated with the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), an eight-month-pregnant homemaker, M R Pallavi, has been elected as an MLA from Chennai’s Thiru Vi Ka Nagar constituency, emerging as one of the notable first-time faces of the Vijay-led TVK in the recently held Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
In the narrow lanes of Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, a steady stream of media personnel has been making their way to Pallavi’s residence—a scene reminiscent of the result day in Delhi when journalists thronged the modest home of Rakhi Birla, who had won from Mangolpuri on an AAP ticket.
Pallavi, 36, a homemaker educated up to class XII, defeated the DMK candidate K S Ravichandran by a margin of 22,333 votes in the reserved Thiru Vi Ka Nagar Assembly constituency.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam emerged as the single largest party by winning 108 seats, while DMK and AIADMK got 59 and 47, respectively.
Pallavi’s victory has drawn attention due to her personal circumstances. She campaigned extensively while eight months pregnant, going door-to-door to reach voters.
According to local accounts, she even fainted once during the campaign but continued her outreach.
She has not spoken to the media following her victory, as doctors have advised her to rest. Her husband, Rajesh, briefly recounted her campaign efforts.
A self-professed admirer of actor-turned-politician Vijay, Pallavi joined TVK soon after its formation and is now among its first-time legislators.
Doctors have advised her to be hospitalised around May 20, as she is expecting her second child. Ahead of that, voters in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar have entrusted her with representing them in the state Assembly.
Political observers say the rise of candidates like Pallavi signals a possible shift in Tamil Nadu’s political landscape, with voters backing a new party and candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.
