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India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

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Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#2
> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though.

Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#3

> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though. Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

If your views align with the current official narrative, you will be fine.

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#5

> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though. Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

Ha! Twitter is all over the place. In India they take down dissent at the request of the government, in the US they do the same voluntarily and also block activists they disagree with.

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#6
Criticism is the path to improvement. This is yet more proof that Indian leadership is doubling down on public relations magic and attempts to control the narrative when they should be focusing on practical ways of improving the situation. Politicians that win through hardcore divide and conquer strategies perform badly when tested with real crises.

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#7

> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though. Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

If your views align with the current official narrative, you will be fine.

That seems true in America too, where official = the narratives deemed acceptable by progressive activists and by the executives/employees of progressive corporations such as big technology firms that control our narratives. If you fall outside those narratives you face censorship, deplatforming, demonetization, etc. The fact that it isn’t the government imposing those restrictions doesn’t change its impact on societal discourse.

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#8

> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though. Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

There has been a lot of recent foreign criticism leveled at the Indian government regarding COVID, which seems like political opportunism. Only a month or two ago, India was in a great position with respect to COVID and was regarded as having successfully managed the pandemic. Another article recently discussed on HN made clear that India enacted much more stringent mandates and containment procedures than the US ever did, for example forcing entire apartment buildings to stay indoors if even one resident tested positive.

Their current situation is not caused by outright negligence but complex factors no one understands yet. India also willingly exported more than half their vaccines to other nations, and even charged nothing for them in many cases. They could’ve certainly been more selfish and had an easier situation for themselves. It seems very premature to criticize India or its government. When they’re facing this tough situation, I don’t think it’s appropriate for poorly informed outsiders to assail a nation blindly - it feels gross to me.

Another way to look at this is that just as people here in America (activists, journalists, politicians) allege Russian interference in elections and the threat of foreign actors in social media, the Indian government and much of its citizenry are wary of interference and propaganda emerging largely from the West. It’s already been quite apparent when you look at the cringeworthy segments people like John Oliver run about India and its government, as well as one sided coverage of the farmers protests, and activist commentary from everyone ranging from celebrities like Rihanna to activists like Greta Thunberg.

I understand why India would take these steps to protect the integrity of their nation’s dialog. Why wouldn’t these countries be concerned about outside interference in this day and age? Surely Americans don’t have exclusive claim to fears of foreign interference. If anything this move is probably regarded as too late by people in India.

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#9

> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though. Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

There has been a lot of recent foreign criticism leveled at the Indian government regarding COVID, which seems like political opportunism. Only a month or two ago, India was in a great position with respect to COVID and was regarded as having successfully managed the pandemic. Another article recently discussed on HN made clear that India enacted much more stringent mandates and containment procedures than the US eve…

you seem to have the whole time in the world to type all this...

Re: India orders Twitter to pull tweets criticizing its Covid-19 response

#10

> Twitter has stood its ground at times. It said in February that it wouldn't block activists, journalists and politicians in India. Those safeguards don't apply to others, though. Oh, where do you sign up to become an official activist so you’re afforded the right to express your opinion on Twitter?

There has been a lot of recent foreign criticism leveled at the Indian government regarding COVID, which seems like political opportunism. Only a month or two ago, India was in a great position with respect to COVID and was regarded as having successfully managed the pandemic. Another article recently discussed on HN made clear that India enacted much more stringent mandates and containment procedures than the US eve…

Prime minister and home minister rallying crowds without masks, religious congregations surely had nothing to do with the spike coinciding with that timeline.

'Oh reality is more complicated' is as trite, as generic and as content free as one can get

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