#SeditionLaw

In its 279th Report on the "Usage of the Law of Sedition (April, 2023), the Law Commission of India (LCI) has recommended RETAINING Section 124A of IPC, increased the punishment, and has proposed additional safeguards to avoid its misuse. 1/10
#LawCommissionofIndia Image
In support of #SeditionLaw, the LCI, headed by Former Chief Justice of Karnataka HC, Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, has referred to the Supreme Court's 1962 judgment in Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar for clarity, while ending up making it more unclear than before. 2/10
The Report has also regurgitated the age-old reliance on terrorism and threats to national security to allow the retention of a law that is being heavily misused to stifle any form of dissent and criticism of the government. 3/10
Without engaging with #Section124A holistically, the Report merely differentiates why certain foreign jurisdictions do not require #SeditionLaw & India does. By doing so, the Report fails to contemplate or even understand the issues afflicting such a law in the first place. 4/10
While supporting #SeditionLaw, the LCI has rejected the allegation that the sedition law is a  colonial legacy, because, hey, our entire Indian legal framework is a colonial legacy, and, therefore, that does not justify the provision's repeal. 5/10 #Section124A
Unfortunately, the Report dismisses legitimate concerns regarding its misuse by simply blaming it on its misinterpretation by police authorities who want to please the political class. Further, the procedural guidelines suggested abysmally fail to address this misuse. 6/10
The Report refers extensively to its 42nd Report (1971) as well as the 267th Report (2017) on Section 124A.

However, it fails to refer to the 2018 Consultation Paper issued by LCI itself where #SeditionLaw's continued existence was questioned. 7/10 Image
This LCI Report follows from the Supreme Court's directions in S.G. Vombatkere v. Union of India where the SC on May 11, 2022, had directed the Central and State Govts. to stay all operations under S.124A, including pausing Court proceedings. 8/10
#SeditionLaw
IFF represented the Journalist Union of Assam, one of the Petitioners in the matter, & will continue to work towards striking down of #SeditionLaw & protecting your right to free speech & expression. Read more about it here. 👇 9/10
internetfreedom.in/jua-sc-seditio…
Help us help you by donating to us so that we can continue fighting the good fight! 👇 10/10

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More from @internetfreedom

Jun 1
In May 2023, IFF filed 28 RTI requests & 3 First Appeals.

A response we received from @GoI_MeitY revealed that from 2018 to February 2023, 29,884 URLs were blocked under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000.

Read all about it in our transparency report 👇1/5

internetfreedom.in/transparency-r…
More highlights:
1️⃣ @MIB_India refused to disclose the number of URL takedown requests it has issued, citing confidentiality & exemption from Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, 2005. 2/5
2️⃣ We filed 6 RTI applications with various public authorities on the use of facial recognition technology

3️⃣ We also filed 4 RTI applications with various state governments on internet shutdowns that had been declared in different parts of the country. 3/5
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May 31
In a few hours, @Meta shareholders will vote on Proposal 7, a proposal on allegations of bias in Meta’s India operations. Ahead of the vote, a statement by IFF’s Founding Director, @apar1984, urging shareholders to vote yes, will be played at the Annual General Meeting. 1/5
Of all the proposals on the table at Meta’s AGM, Proposal 7 is particularly important to Indian users. It highlights Meta’s role in disseminating hate speech, failure to address risks & political bias, inadequate content moderation & transparency in platform practices. 2/5
.@Eko_Movement, @indiacivilwatch, & IFF launched a joint campaign to raise awareness about Proposal 7 and the concerns highlighted in the proposal and to urge the shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7. #VoteForABetterMeta 3/5

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May 31
The @Meta Annual General Meeting is on 31 May, 2023. In the days leading up to the meeting, we’re sharing 7 reasons to vote yes on Proposal 7, a shareholder proposal dealing with allegations of bias in its India operations. #7ReasonsForProposal7 1/6 Image
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The 1st & 2nd reports deal with “surrogate advertisers” who place ads on behalf of political actors. According to the report, Facebook doesn’t do enough to limit loopholes. The reports also uncovered that surrogate advertising was employed by 2 dominant national parties. 3/6
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May 31
The @Meta Annual General Meeting is on 31 May, 2023. In the days leading up to the meeting, we’re sharing 7 reasons to vote yes on Proposal 7, a shareholder proposal dealing with allegations of bias in its India operations. #7ReasonsForProposal7 1/6

Reason 6 👇 Image
In March 2023, @WSJ published a report on Monu Manesar, a cow vigilante whose social media profile had videos of his team chasing suspected cow smugglers. The Report stated that human rights groups had warned Meta that such videos may trigger violence. 2/6
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Manesar’s profile stayed up & racked up nearly 1,50,000 followers across Facebook & Instagram & 2,00,000 subscribers on YouTube.

In May 2023, it was reported that he was named in an FIR in connection with the deaths of two alleged cow smugglers. 3/6

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May 30
The @Meta Annual General Meeting is on 31 May, 2023.

In the days leading up to the meeting, we’re sharing 7 reasons to vote yes on Proposal 7, a shareholder proposal dealing with allegations of bias in its India operations. #7ReasonsForProposal7 1/8 Image
In 2021, @FrancesHaugen left her job at @Meta, taking tens of thousands of pages of internal documents with her, which she leaked to @SECGov. These documents were the basis of investigations by @WSJ & a consortium of media organisations. 2/8

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Reportedly, one of the revelations in the documents was that Meta was aware of how Facebook showed Indian users violent content and hate speech, and that it was aware that weaker moderation in non-English-speaking countries led to greater abuse. 3/8
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May 30
In April, @newslaundry & IFF brought together journalists & lawyers for our 2nd edition of @FoE_Con to discuss all things, uhm, "impolite". 🤭

Read our blog for a recap of FoE Con, our takeaways, & what lies ahead! 1/7
internetfreedom.in/continuing-imp…
The response was overwhelming. We are so grateful to our #digitalrights community who came together for us! ❤️

@FoE_Con is an annual event, commemorating the historic Shreya Singhal v. Union of India judgement that upheld primacy of free speech & expression. 2/7
Watch our first session on journalism and online censorship where we had a panel consisting of social commentator and YouTuber @TheDeshBhakt, journalist @sakshijoshii, and lawyer Shahrukh Alam. The panel was moderated by @AbhinandanSekhr. 3/7

Read 7 tweets

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