“ECONOMIC SECURITY”
Civil aviation authorities have had to check every flight that has been threatened, many by messages posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The government warning did not mention any social media company by name, but cited an advisory notice from the information technology ministry.
“The scale of (the) spread of such hoax bomb threats has been observed to be dangerously unrestrained due to the availability of the option of ‘forwarding/re-sharing/re-posting/re-tweeting’ on the social media platforms,” the information ministry said.
It said companies must report any offences “likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security” of the country, and cooperate swiftly with government agencies to aid investigations.
The government on Monday said it is discussing “legislative action” to overhaul aviation and aircraft security laws, and to make those who make such threats guilty of a serious, or “cognisable”, crime with longer potential sentences.
India, the world’s biggest democracy, regularly ranks among the top five countries globally for the number of requests made by a government to remove social media content.
Last year, an Indian court hit X with a US$61,000 fine after the platform unsuccessfully challenged orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.