In the wake of escalating tensions and deadly strikes between India and Pakistan, the Indian government reached out to X to demand that it block 8,000 accounts that ostensibly could be expected to be critical of Indian strikes, which have yet to show signs of cooling down.
The latest flare-up between the two long-feuding governments occurred on May 7 when Indian forces struck at militants in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, in response to militants striking an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir in April.
A few details from the indian government
“The move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities, and media organizations amid heightened tensions and deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed neighbors,” reports France 24, a news organization publicly funded and run by the French government.
India, the world’s largest democracy, has been backsliding into authoritarianism under the populist prime minister Narendra Modi as hatred against minorities is stoked and civil rights weakened. Still, for such a large and established democracy to crack down on internet access is something of an anomaly, if not entirely unheard of.
Funny timing since Pakistan, marked by long periods of extensive military oversight and control over the civilian government, removed its 15-month ban on X.com access on May 7 as the conflict with India heated up, as reported by NetBlocks on Mastodon.
Elaborating on the statement given to France 24 by X’s global government affairs team, the French website says, “X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees.”
“It added that in most cases, the government had not specified which posts from the accounts violated Indian laws, and in many others, it provided no evidence or justification for the blocks. The Elon Musk-owned platform said it disagreed with the demands but it had begun the process to withhold the specified accounts in India,” continues the news organization.
And for no reason at all, I’d like to remind you that VPNs are wonderful tools for privacy and security. Perhaps you should take a read through our VPN guide.
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