On 13 February, Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha tweeted out a video where he altered the text on an open Google document shared by the BJP IT Cell on WhatsApp. The document contained ‘copy-paste’ instructions for the IT cell members and party members alike on various schemes introduced by the government.
BJP workers, leaders and even Union Ministers simply copy-paste from these documents at a certain predetermined times and help the party’s position trend on Twitter. And this is possibly why these accounts are then ‘shadow banned’ on Twitter, Sinha told The Quint.
“If the right wing is saying they’ve been shadow banned, I do know of accounts who have put out spam. I monitor WhatsApp groups, and I know there are trending instructions which ask you to copy-paste. If that hits a spam filter, and if the Twitter algorithm deems that you are actually spamming the platform, and you can’t see their tweets anymore.”
Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee on Information Technology, chaired by BJP MP Anurag Thakur has summoned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on 25 February amidst allegations of a 'pro-left' bias on the platform.
How did the allegations come to be? Well, Twitter suspended several right-wing accounts, which sparked off protests among the section – both online and offline. The protests culminated with a volunteer group writing to the committee, asking for an inquiry into the platform's supposed bias against right-wing Twitter accounts.
But where is the data to support this claim, questions Sinha. Sinha is among those who reported the right-wing accounts which were suspended by Twitter.
“If there is a bias, it should be looked into – definitely. But where is the data? Where is the data to show there is a bias? No data has been published in public domain.”
Speaking about whether or not the government is justified in calling Dorsey to appear before it, Sinha opined that the platform is plaguing with many other issues that need to be addressed, rather than the "suspensions of a couple of handles."
“It is too small an issue to make it such a global issue. A couple of handles getting suspended, how does it matter? I can imagine if 200 significant handles get suspended at one go, then I can imagine a party reacting to it. Twitter has many other issues – such as its inability to control abuse.”
As for misinformation on the platform, it is another ball game altogether, says Sinha.
“When it comes to misinformation, Twitter does not have a single way where you can report false news. Facebook now has a way to report misinformation but I don’t think Facebook has done enough.”
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