ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): The Indian government has initiated a digital crackdown against all those X accounts, primarily Pakistan-based, that supported Pakistan and its army in the recent military tensions.
According to the sources, the Modi-led regime has already blocked several accounts in India that were posting in favor of the Pakistan Army and the national defense narrative.
The banned accounts belong to political figures, journalists, social media activists, former security officials, and others.
The notices sent to affected users by X (formerly Twitter) read, “The Indian government filed legal complaints against these accounts. The complaints state that these users violated India’s Information Technology Act of 2000.”
This development follows the Indian government’s directive to social media platform X to block over 8,000 accounts within the country.
The platform complied under the threat of substantial fines and imprisonment for local staff, despite expressing disagreement with the censorship.
The crackdown has not been limited to political figures.
Notably, the X accounts of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and ex-Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have also been blocked in India.
Additionally, the Instagram and YouTube accounts of Pakistani cricketers, actors, entertainment and news channels, and other public figures have been banned or restricted, reflecting the broad scope of India’s digital censorship efforts.
Recently, the Indian authorities have also issued an advisory to ban all OTT platforms, media streaming services, and digital intermediaries to immediately cease the streaming of content originating from Pakistan.
The platforms were advised to discontinue the web series, films, songs, podcasts, and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription-based model or otherwise, having their origins in Pakistan, with immediate effect, the advisory read.