LONDON: Twitter has censored or removed more than 50 tweets that were critical of the way India’s government is handling the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported.
According to Indian daily MediaNama, Narendra Modi’s government sent Twitter an emergency order last week to remove the tweets – the disclosure notice was seen on the Lumen database.
The censored tweets belonged to, among others, an Indian parliamentarian, an actor, a minister, two film-makers and journalists.
In addition to tweets criticizing the government, others that hit out at Modi or even shared images of crematoriums and hospitals packed with COVID patients were also restricted.
India is struggling with a “double mutant” strain of COVID-19, with the country posting the world’s highest single-day increase in cases for a fourth day.
On Sunday reported India a record daily rise of 349,691 new coronavirus infections, taking its overall tally to 16.96 million infections.
According to health ministry data on Sunday a total of 2,767 people were reported dead in the previous 24 hours, taking total coronavirus fatalities to 192,311.
