On Sunday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others to remove about 100 posts and some content that it alleged were “unrelated, old and out of the context images or visuals, communally sensitive posts and misinformation about Covid19 protocols”, sources in the IT ministry said.

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A senior IT ministry source said, “When the entire country is putting up a brave fight against Covid-19 pandemic, some people are misusing social media to create panic. The ministry has asked these URLs (uniform resource locator) to be removed to prevent obstructions in fight against the pandemic and escalation of public order due to these posts.”

This latest communication from MeitY was based on recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which flagged these URLs as “communally sensitive”.

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Senior officials in the ministry while defending its latest removal notice sent to the social media platform, said that while social media could and was being used to criticize the government, seek help and even offer suggestions on handling of Covid-19 pandemic, it was also “necessary to take action against those users who are misusing social media during this grave humanitarian crisis for unethical purposes”.

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This action-step by MeitY comes a day after Twitter reported that it had taken down or restricted access to over 50 tweets flagged by the Central government, through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the past one month.