The Indian government has reportedly contacted social media platforms like TikTok, Helo, and Facebook to take down videos that aim to mislead Muslims in the country against following precautional measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.
“We have written to Tiktok, Helo and Facebook about the Covid-19 related videos on their platforms which are trying to influence Muslims and asked them to immediately take them down”, government sources familiar with the matter told ET.
The government’s appeal to remove misleading videos from these platforms comes after a report submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs last week by fact-checking firm Voyager Infosec.
The videos are believed to have originated after the controversial Tablighi Jamaat meet that apparently has led to an unprecedented number of coronavirus infections across the country.
According to the report, there have been trending social media campaigns on Twitter against TikTok under the hashtags “#BanTikTokinIndia”, “#jihad_failata_TikTok”, and “data_leak _by_TikTok” since the platform accounts for the spread of most fake news. We saw dozens of similar tweets under the hashtag “#जिहादी_TikTok” as well.
“We are actively working with the government to support them in their efforts to fight misinformation and proactively also working to elevate credible information related to Covid-19 on our platform,” a TikTok spokesperson told ET.
TikTok has taken a few steps regarding the coronavirus situation, including a donation of 400,000 hazmat medical protective suits and 200,000 masks worth Rs 100 crore to help doctors in India. However, the company’s goodwill is at stake if poor content moderation policies like these continue to follow.
