The Congress party has accused the BJP of restricting Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter following, which he says was “suddenly reduced.” While there is no evidence that his account was restricted for political reasons. It shows how social media companies work to suppress opposing voices. Please enjoy my blog introduction paragraph about this issue!
Topic: What do you think will be the future of cryptocurrency in 2018?
Category: Cryptocurrency
Introduction: The price fluctuations experienced by cryptocurrencies are a reflection on our desire for something new and different than what we have now, but does anyone really know if these coins will remain relevant in five years time or not? My answer is yes, it seems unlikely that people could go back to traditional currencies when technology progresses as quickly as it has been doing recently.
Indian Opposition Figure Rahul Gandhi Says His Twitter Following Was Restricted. The Indian government has been accused of restricting the number of followers on social media accounts.
NEW DELHI, India— One of India’s most famous opposition leaders, Rahul Gandhi, has written to Twitter’s CEO, saying that he is the target of a government operation to impede his ability to gain followers on the site, casting new insight on how New Delhi polices American social media firms.
Mr. Gandhi wrote in a letter viewed by The Wall Street Journal on Dec. 27 that he believes Twitter was unwittingly participating in the attempt, which he blamed on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to quell opposition.
Mr. Gandhi also supplied an analysis of data from his Twitter account, which showed that after an eight-day ban in August last year, the number of followers, which now stands at 19.5 million, has scarcely climbed for many months.
In the first seven months of 2021, he attracted an average of roughly 400,000 new members every month, according to figures independently confirmed by the Journal using two social media analytics businesses, Emplifi and Social Blade. From September through December, that number dropped to an average of less than 2,500 each month, according to the statistics.
His account received over 11,000 new followers on Friday, and it has earned an average of roughly 10,000 new followers every day since then—the greatest growth since early August.
Mr. Gandhi wrote to Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter, “I want to raise your notice to what I feel is Twitter’s inadvertent role in suppressing free and fair discourse in India.”
“People at Twitter India have credibly told me, though quietly, that they are under enormous pressure from the government to stifle my voice.”
Requests for comment were not returned by a spokesman for India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Mr. Gandhi’s complaint was met with silence from a Twitter spokesperson.
She said that follower numbers vary as the firm use machine learning to battle spam and manipulation, and that millions of accounts are suspended each week for breaking Twitter’s prohibitions against malevolent automation.
Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter
-/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/-/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/-/Agence France-Presse/Getty
“While some accounts may see a little variation, the figure might be bigger in certain circumstances,” the representative stated. “We recognize that this move is upsetting, but we think that truth and openness make Twitter a more trustworthy platform for public discourse.”
According to Twitter, accounts are periodically asked to authenticate information or pass a CAPTCHA test—which ensures that a user is real and not an automated bot—and those who fail within a certain time frame may be suspended or locked, preventing them from being included in follower counts.
Mr. Gandhi’s office’s digital media manager, Srivatsa Y B, stated, “This is not a completely explain nor a satisfying answer.” “The timeline of events does not back up Twitter’s allegations.”
Mr. Gandhi’s office, he said, did not utilize any kind of automation, manipulation, or spam to increase his Twitter following.
Mr. Gandhi’s letter did not specify how he felt his number of followers was limited. According to technology experts, “shadow banning,” which includes removing accounts from suggested lists and reducing the display of postings, may be used to lessen an account’s impact without overtly banning it or deleting information.
Twitter claims that it does not have a shadow ban. “And we surely don’t impose a shadow ban based on political or ideological beliefs.” “Our first focus is to deal with bad actors who are attempting to distort or distract from good debate,” the corporation said.
According to statistics from the two analytics businesses, Mr. Gandhi, a member of parliament who used to lead the opposition Indian National Congress Party and is the son of its current leader, has been an active user of Twitter since 2015 and has posted routinely during the last several months.
During a protest outside Twitter’s headquarters in New Delhi last year, when Rahul Gandhi’s account was momentarily disabled, police arrested Congress Party members.
Associated Press photo by Manish Swarup
He has often used the forum to criticize Mr. Modi and to address politically contentious issues, such as the enormous demonstrations by Indian farmers, many of whom hail from Punjab, that forced the government to reverse major agricultural reform policies.
Mr. Gandhi’s claim comes at a critical juncture in India’s political calendar, as the country prepares for local elections in five states, including Punjab, that might serve as a harbinger for national elections coming in 2024. Due to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 on physical meetings, most of the advocacy has shifted online.
They also come at a time when technology sector insiders claim that India’s government has tightened regulations on foreign IT firms operating in the country in an attempt to quell political demonstrations and acquire greater control over online debate. Last year, Delhi police arrested individuals on suspicion of coordinating with foreigners in support of protesting farmers using WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google docs. After the government threatened legal action for posts relating to the demonstrations, Twitter banned, unblocked, and then barred hundreds of accounts in India. The postings, according to officials, may instigate violence.
Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that India’s government threatened to imprison workers of Twitter, Facebook, and its WhatsApp business for the firms’ refusal to cooperate with data and takedown orders relating to the farmers’ demonstrations. Foreign corporations must comply with local laws, according to the Indian government, which includes measures announced last year that give the country’s officials more control over internet conversation.
Last year, Indian officials ordered hundreds of social media postings condemning their government’s handling of the Covid-19 epidemic to be blocked on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The administration said that it was working to dispel misunderstandings about the coronavirus. Police investigators went to Twitter’s New Delhi headquarters to look into the company’s decision to classify tweets from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesperson as misleading. According to Delhi police, Twitter looked to have information that officials were unaware of.
According to Twitter’s most recent transparency report, India is now the most common source of legal requests to delete information from verified journalists’ and news organizations’ accounts. According to the research, the nation is fourth on the list of countries that submit the most requests to delete material, after Japan, Russia, and Turkey. According to one former executive, Twitter has sought to oppose the government’s escalating requests to freeze accounts or give over information on particular accounts, but has caved down in cases where local laws or company standards were broken.
Twitter’s new CEO, Parag Agrawal, has taken over at a time when the firm has struggled to expand while experimenting with new offerings. Laura Forman of the Wall Street Journal explains where the social media network may go next under the new head. Getty Images/AFP/Getty Images/Justin Tallis
According to industry insiders, American IT firms are facing challenges in India. It is a critical market for their worldwide expansion, with a population of roughly 1.4 billion people, particularly because many are barred out of China. India has more users of Meta’s Facebook and WhatsApp than any other nation. It is one of Twitter’s fastest-growing areas, and it is critical to the company’s long-term goals as growth in richer nations slows.
“In India, they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Evelyn Douek, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, said. She emphasized that IT companies must strike a compromise between keeping access to a large market and preserving free expression and local workers who may face legal action.
Ms. Douek said, “Reducing exposure may be as successful or as damaging as eliminating material or an account.” Such methods, however, are exceedingly difficult to show or fight for the account user, she added.
Mr. Gandhi’s latest Twitter woes started in August. After tweeting a picture of the parents of a 9-year-old New Delhi girl who was reportedly raped and killed, his account was suspended for eight days. After receiving a consent letter from the girl’s family and withholding the tweet within India, Twitter said the photo violated an Indian law that prohibits the release of any identifying information about sex crime victims, and it restored his account after receiving a consent letter from the girl’s family. Mr. Gandhi said that identical photographs were shared by other Twitter accounts, including official accounts, with no penalties.
His account’s growth slowed after that. According to the analytics companies, even after it was opened, he lost hundreds of followers in September and only acquired roughly 2,000 followers in October.
Mr. Gandhi begged Mr. Agrawal, who was born in India and took over Twitter’s leadership in November, to intercede on his behalf in his letter.
Mr. Gandhi said, “You have a great duty to guarantee that Twitter does not actively contribute to the establishment of authoritarianism in India.”
Shan Li can be reached at [email protected]
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