Andhra Pradesh’s Minister for Information & Public Relations, Kolusu Parthasarathy, has announced that the state will form a “social media response cell” and a task force to “investigate allegations of unethical practices on social media.” Watch his brief media interaction on his X profile.
What are “unethical practices,” according to the AP Minister?
- Targeting or harassing girls and women on social media, including online abuse and harassment.
- Spreading lies about the government, including disinformation and/or defamation campaigns.
- Targeting politicians through character assassination, blackmail, or abusive smear campaigns against public figures.
Advanced forensic tools for social media monitoring: The minister further said that the government should assign responsibility for investigating and monitoring these alleged unethical practices using advanced forensic tools. He added that the state has set aside a dedicated budget for this purpose.
AP Minister’s interpretation echoes Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan’s remarks: The minister’s interpretation of “unethical practices” echoes Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s recent list of activities that he said do not constitute free speech. According to Kalyan, these include:
- Obscene language
- Baseless personal attacks
- Attempts to destroy reputations
- Fake propaganda
- Morphed images
- Death threats
Recent incidents raising concerns about online censorship in Andhra Pradesh
- AP police arrest YouTuber and journalist over content: Andhra Pradesh Police arrested YouTuber Raavan (B. Joseph) of the Prashna channel and journalist-YouTuber K. Venkatrami Reddy (KVR) of Myra Media, months after arresting a stand-up comedian. Raavan was arrested five times despite obtaining bail from various courts, and the police also invoked the UAPA against him. Read more about this issue in MediaNama’s archives.
- Meta geo-blocked AP opposition party’s Facebook page: Meta made the official YSRCP Facebook page inaccessible in India, following the earlier takedown of the party’s Instagram handle. Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said screenshots showed that Meta had complied with blocking orders from the Government of India or law enforcement authorities. The page was later restored and became accessible without a VPN. Read more about this issue in MediaNama’s archives.
- Meta blocked Environmental Reporting Collective’s Instagram reel on Google’s AI data centre: Meta geo-restricted a two-minute documentary reel featuring farmers from Tarluvada village alleging forced land acquisition for a Google AI data centre near Visakhapatnam. The Environmental Reporting Collective, a global network of journalists, criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the takedown. Read more about this issue in MediaNama’s archives.
- Meta restricted Human Rights Forum’s Instagram posts on the same data centre…
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