By Prateek Waghre
On 28th April, reports emerged that Facebook was ‘temporarily hiding’ posts using the hashtag ‘ResignModi’ because ‘some content’ in those posts went against their Community Standards.
This seemed like a rather fitting development in a week where the future of free speech and dissent in India had already managed to capture international attention. MEITY had ordered Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to remove/withhold 100-odd posts critical of how the Union government is handling COVID-19’s second wave. While Twitter did disclose (as reported by Medianama) that it complied via the Lumen Database, the other platforms have not confirmed whether they received any such requests, nor whether they complied.