Report by Tanya Singh:
‘Hashtag’ traits on Twitter — a spot for ‘highly-polarized political narratives’ — might be treated as political adverts through the election course of and be subjected to media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC) laws of the Election Commission, an skilled committee arrange by the ballot panel final 12 months has really helpful.
The committee, in its interim report submitted to the pol panel in January, also called for the creation of a separate social media monitoring cell in the district election officer’s (DEO) office so that political ads on social media can be tracked during the elections. According to sources, the EC has accepted the recommendations. As per the expert committee, three key platforms are used for political campaigns — Google (including Google ads and YouTube), Facebook (including Facebook and Instagram) and Twitter. Though Twitter had explicitly forbidden carrying out political advertising in November 2019, the panel said there was a thin line between political advertisements and issues that are permitted.
The Centre had additionally warned that it could arrest Twitter’s high executives in India stating that its checklist of accounts sought to be censured over “inflammatory content” was not negotiable. The authorities added that its “patience is running out” over refusal of the corporate to comply with the sooner discover given below Section 69A of the IT Act.