Modi Continues His Attack on Media and Freedom of Speech in an Effort to Deflect Criticism of His Handling of the Exploding COVID Crisis in India

India's government has instructed social media companies to remove any content that refers to the "Indian variant" of Covid-19.

Platforms were asked to "remove all the content that names, refers to, or implies 'Indian variant' of coronavirus from your platform immediately", the Press Trust of India reported.   "It has come to our knowledge that a false statement is being circulated online which implies that an 'Indian variant' of coronavirus is spreading across the countries. This is completely FALSE," AFP news agency quoted the same letter as saying.

Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the variant as B.1.617, geographical terms have been used to describe a number of other variants, including the UK and Brazil.  B.1.617, a more transmissible variant, was first detected in India last year and has spread to dozens of countries. A number of nations have severely restricted arrivals from India.  Practically speaking, it would be extremely difficult to take down all references to "Indian variant" on the internet-- and what Modi's government is seeking is complete censorship over all reporting across the world.

India's government is extremely sensitive to criticism, due to its poor handling of the Covid-19 crisis.  It also drew anger last month after it ordered Twitter to remove posts critical of some of its actions during the pandemic.

The country has been hit hard by the new variant since late March and is now second only to the US in terms of overall infections, at more than 26 million, according to Johns Hopkins University research.  Covid-related deaths are close to 300,000, behind only the US and Brazil, although experts widely believe that India's fatalities are considerably higher.

India's government this year introduced guidelines it said were intended to curb misuse of social media and the spread of misinformation.  If the government deems that any material appearing on a social media platform is "unlawful", the company can be prosecuted if it does not remove the content. The rules in essence mean companies cannot evade responsibility for what users post.

Many accused the Modi government of yet another attack on freedom of speech and this latest move fuels concerns over Modi's  persistent attacks on the freedom of the press.  Last month, the government told Twitter and Facebook to remove some posts critical of Modi's handling of Covid-19. It also recently criticized Twitter for labeling some tweets by Indian politicians "manipulated media", which the platform uses referring to possible fabrications and deceptions.