An analysis: Twitter and FIRs

Recently, Twitter has been facing some allegations, and FIRs have been registered against Twitter. To understand why let’s take a step back and wrap our heads around recent undertakings.

In the past few months, the Indian government had been emphasizing the new IT rules and insisting that social media platforms such as Twitter appoint the necessary statutory officers before the deadline, which was 26th May.

However, since Twitter failed to do so, it has lost its intermediary status, meaning that it will now be responsible for unlawful content posted on its platform. This also indicates that Twitter could be held criminally responsible for content on its platform.

This decision has been received cynically by some. For example, Dr Nigam Nuggehalli, Professor, BML Munjal University, expresses that a "transparent and comprehensive public discussion leading to a sensible law on the regulation of social media intermediaries" is necessary. Additionally, some deem the new rules ‘unconstitutional’.

Now that we’ve looked at the various perspectives, let’s analyse a recent case of an elderly man who was assaulted. What’s striking is that a video of the incident was been widely circulated on social media platforms, particularly on Twitter. This, in the view of the government and almost everyone else, is highly insensitive. Think of it, videos of a 72-year-old being attacked and his beard chopped and pictures of his bruises spreading like wildfire isn’t the most positive thing.

In the video, the Muslim man can be heard expressing that he was taken to a secluded area on 5th June, beaten, and forced to chant ‘Jai Siya Ram’.

The FIR accuses Twitter of inaction, for it appears that Twitter had not removed the “misleading” tweets that had the potential to incite violence and “destroy communal harmony”. It further states that no attempt was made to establish or clarify the veracity of the issue.

Certain journalists and Congress leaders, and The Wire have also been charged on grounds of “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race”.

Salman Nizami, a Congress leader who has been accused by the Ghaziabad police, has a thought-provoking take of the matter - “We just tweeted what some media organisation had only reported. We have just condemned the act, the UP government is Islamophobic, hence only Muslim journalists and leaders have been named. There were so many others who had tweeted”.

Mansoor Usmani, another person who has been charged, resonates with these sentiments. She says that before she shared the video, several mainstream news agencies had already published it.

Several people have different takes on the matter. Some say that the IT rules are iniquitous; others say they are vital. Some say that the charges are unfair; others say that they are crucial. Let’s hope that whatever action is taken, it’s in the best interests of society and that above all, justice prevails.

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