In DNA on Thursday, we want to challenge Twitter to suspend the account of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for spreading fake news and this action should not be delayed at all. If Twitter does not do this, then it will prove that its policy regarding the fake news is completely false and it is promoting people who feel that they can easily escape by spreading fake news and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has done the same.
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She tweeted on February 7 at 9.30 am and deleted the tweet 10 minutes later thinking that this act of hers would not be caught and by doing so, she would also spread fake news. But today in DNA, we want to say that she has been caught and Twitter should not take any time to suspend their account.
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In the tweet, she had shared some pictures, in which some people are seen with army personnel. Priyanka claimed that these soldiers have reached the border of Delhi, where the farmers’ agitation is going on, directly after getting leave. If you read this tweet carefully, you will know that Priyanka wrote these lies in such a beautiful way that people easily believed it.
However, when our team tried to know the truth behind these pictures, we came to know that it was a very big fake news. Actually, these pictures were not of the farmers’ agitation going on the borders of Delhi but were from Ludhiana, Punjab. These pictures were used to spread fake news and most importantly Priyanka also deleted this fake news after tweeting. However, by the time she deleted this tweet, these pictures had spread like fire as on February 7, the fake news was also spread through the Twitter handle of the country’s oldest party Congress and this tweet has not been deleted yet.
These pictures were taken on February 6 at the bus stand in Ludhiana and the truth of these pictures is that these soldiers were going on duty for the first time and the family members themselves went there with them to see them off at the bus stand. This proves that Priyanka spread such big fake news and Twitter also did not take any action on it. So today, we demand from Twitter that the way former US President Donald Trump’s account was suspended for spreading fake news in America, the same action should be taken on Priyanka as well.
Now we want to tell you something important. On August 24, 1608, the East India Company ship from Great Britain reached a port in Surat by sea. At that time perhaps no one had even imagined that the East India Company of Britain would rule a country 20 times larger than its own country and at that time about one-fourth of the world’s population. But contrary to expectations it happened and India was ruled by the British for 190 years.
The East India Company came to India to do business and at that time India was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. There were many princely states and the throne of Delhi was ruled by Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar. The British used trade as a ladder to rule India and took care of the kings and Mughal rulers of the time and were given expensive gifts. It was from here that the roots of the British began to strengthen in India and then after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, India was captured by the British and the British kept India as a slave for 190 years and we feel that history is repeating itself once again today.
Today, many technology companies have reached every small and big cities and village of India through the Internet and these companies are doing the same in the name of networking, which was done by the East India Company in the name of trade. They want to swallow countries like India in the name of giving you the freedom to speak and to connect people to each other and we think that they are all signs.
We will analyze these companies and will also tell you how these companies have started challenging the constitutional values of India. To understand this, first you have to understand the stalemate which has arisen between the Government of India and Twitter and we will try to explain it to you in just five points.
Firstly, the Central Government had asked Twitter to close 1,435 Twitter accounts in three different orders because, through these accounts, fake news was being spread among the people with inflammatory messages about the farmers’ protests. Secondly, Twitter had to close these accounts as per the government order but these orders did not materialize for long. Twitter did not take the government’s order too seriously.
Thirdly, when the government expressed resentment over this, Twitter also responded to this and most importantly, Twitter refused to act on all the accounts stated by the government. Now think to yourself, the courage of these companies has started challenging even a constitutional government.
Fourthly, Twitter itself decided that all those who spread fake news, promote violence and share inflammatory messages are innocent and no action should be taken against them. Fifthly, out of 1,435 people, only 500 people have their accounts closed and Twitter did not take any action on the rest of the people saying that whatever things these people wrote are in accordance with Indian laws. Twitter also called it within the realm of freedom of expression.
Right now I have a letter written by Twitter in my hand, and I want to read and tell you some major points written in it. Today, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad presented the side of the government on this whole matter in Parliament. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had claimed in a tweet after the violence in Delhi on January 27 that the police had brutally beaten the farmers during the violence. He also shared a picture with this tweet in which a person is seen seriously injured.
When we tried to know the truth behind the picture, we came to know that this picture is also from 2019. In Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, an auto driver named Sarabjit Singh attacked the policemen with a sabre, after which Sarabjit Singh accused the police of assaulting him in the police station. But this picture of Surjewala spread this fake news that it is of January 26 violence and the thing to understand here is that Twitter also did not take any action on this fake news.
The leaders of the Congress are not the only ones who run the agenda in the name of false news. The Trolley Times, a newspaper of farmers appearing from the Singhu border in Delhi, has also spread fake news. The newspaper published a report on February 5 which claimed that two bombs were thrown at the Delhi Police near the stage of the Singhu border. This report was denied by Delhi Police but Twitter did not take any action despite this.
There are some more examples of Twitter’s Double Standards.
As the company has said in its response to the government that it has not taken any action against media institutions, journalists, social workers and leaders because Twitter believes that doing so would violate these people’s right to freedom of expression. But the thing to understand here is that Twitter itself suspended the account of New York Post for one week during the presidential election in America. Because the New York Post exposed Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s suspected relationship with China. This step of Twitter had a profound impact on the elections there.
According to a study by the National Media Research Center of America, 27 per cent of the voters there did not have any information about this news of New York Post and 13 per cent of these people believed that if they had known about it, they would not have voted in support of Biden. That is, this step of Twitter directly affected the US presidential election. This also casts doubt on the way Twitter works and it also suggests that such efforts can happen during elections in India in the next few years.
Now let us tell you another example. On November 4, 2020, when Donald Trump made a tweet alleging rigging in the US election, Twitter deleted Trump’s tweet without delay. But when some politicians in India question EVM machines and try to tarnish the Election Commission image, Twitter does not consider it necessary to act on these leaders.
With this, you can guess the double standards of Twitter.
Now let us tell you what are the views of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on these double standards. In an interview in 2018, Dorsey himself believed that more Twitter employees are inspired by the leftist ideology. Then he also believed that such employees of Twitter, whose views are different, do not feel safe in the company and feel afraid to give their opinion.
If we analyze today’s digital age, it seems that India has split into two. A part belongs to those who spread any number of fake news but there is no action against them and the second part belongs to those whose account is closed only because they stand with the truth. The digital age has today divided the people of India into verified and unverified users. At present, there are about five crore users on Twitter in the world, which means that there is no Blue Tick in front of their account and the number of people whose accounts have been verified by Twitter is around 28 crore.
Amid this stalemate, an application is being discussed in the country. The name of this app is Koo and many union ministers have created their account on this app. It seems that the government is trying to give a strong message to Twitter.
