The Union government has ordered social media platforms to censor all posts featuring the viral clip of two Manipur women paraded naked and sexually abused in Manipur. The sweep of the orders was wide, with immediate compliance from Twitter, Google, and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram; the posts deleted include discussions that featured blacked out or blurred screenshots of the clip where it was not possible to identify the victim.
A government official cited the need to prevent further inflammation of the situation in Manipur to justify the orders; the official did not directly address a question on why content that was discussing the incident was censored along with full uncensored clips. The official said the platforms had complied with takedown orders completely and immediately.
Independent journalist Barkha Dutt was among those caught in the sweep — the government ordered YouTube to remove a report that she uploaded to her YouTube channel, The Mojo Story. The report, accessed by The Hindu over a Virtual Private Network connection, shows screenshots from the clip with a black rectangle blocking the entirety of the victims.
In a fresh development, the emails that people whose posts are getting censored include a way to challenge the legality of their blocking orders — two emails sent to users by Twitter as well as YouTube that The Hindu reviewed mention that if a user wants to challenge the legality of the removal of their post, they can write to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Cyber Law team, an email address for which is provided in the messages.
None of the content is accessible to most people in Manipur, which has been under an Internet shutdown since May, with only limited Net access for wired connections and some officials.
Meanwhile, Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani has said that she has spoken to Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh over the May 4 video showing two women being paraded naked by some men in the State. She termed the incident “condemnable and downright inhuman”.
In a tweet, the Union Minister said, “The horrific video of sexual assault of two women emanating from Manipur is condemnable and downright inhuman. Spoke to CM N Biren Singh ji who has informed me that investigation is currently under way and assured that no effort will be spared to bring perpetrators to justice.”
(With inputs from PTI)
