Unfortunately, the Internet is no longer a safe space to visit, and many governments use it to their advantage making laws and exceptions for different media. It is hard to avoid propaganda when you don’t see it, so you should always pay attention to the signs.
Not so long ago, a short film, Anthem for Kashmir, was completely wiped out from YouTube in India, stating that it was a governmental request. Nevertheless, the producer Sandeep Ravindranath showed no surprise since laws in India have long been shifting toward the right.
The current government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued several laws even back in 2021 to fight the fake news that apparently surged on the Internet. WhatsApp was pursued to give up information about different profiles and encrypted dialogues. The company went to court to fight for the law of free speech.
Similar things happened to Twitter when politicians from the governing party were banned for hate speech on the platform. Right after that, the company was called out several times to remove the decision under different threats, but Twitter still decided to sue.
The biggest problem is that India is the biggest market for a lot of tech companies. A very significant portion of views and connections come from this area, and it would be a heavy loss for media giants to lose such a big part of their income. The community’s laws seem to grow stronger as any signs of opposition to the current government get crushed.
It is vital to withstand the pressure of nationalist propaganda to build a free country. Right now, India needs intense reforms to reach overall Internet safety without laws that allow the government to get any private information about the users.
Do you think the opposition has a chance in India? What measures do you find critical? Please, share your opinion with us in the comments below.
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