(Excerpt from article posted below...)
Takedown Of Hate Tracker Highlights Secrecy Around Modi Govt’s Internet Censorship Practices
The government of India has blocked the website and X account of Hindutva Watch, which documents hate crimes and hate speech against India’s religious minorities, latest evidence of secrecy surrounding India’s internet censorship framework. Legal experts said the current laws and rules lack transparency and appeals are ineffective, giving the government almost unchecked control over online content. The rise in censorship orders since 2014 and the increasing compliance of platforms like X add to concerns about freedom of expression.
Delhi: Around 27 January 2024, the website of Hindutva Watch, a US-based group documenting hate crime and hate speech against India’s religious minorities, became inaccessible in India.
This action was preceded by a formal notice issued by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY) to the group’s founder, Raqib Hameed Naik, on 19 January, warning him that the website may be blocked.
Earlier that month, the ministry ordered X (formerly Twitter) to block access to the hate tracker’s handle in India—a directive that X obeyed, blocking Hindutva Watch on 16 January.
Naik, 29, told Article 14 that he was not aware of the grounds or reasons for blocks in both cases.
The hate tracker’s X account and its website are not accessible in India, but they remain available to Internet users abroad.
Under section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000, the MEITY has authority to order social media companies to block content in the interest of the “sovereignty, integrity, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to the above”.
There was no response to an Article 14 email to MEITY secretary S Krishnan seeking comment on the blocking of Hindutva Watch’s website and X handle. We will update this story if he does respond.
Naik said he was “shocked but not surprised” by the takedown of Hindutva Watch’s Internet presence in India.
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