Remove videos of station stampede: Rlys notice to X

The Railways ministry has directed X (formerly Twitter) to remove 285 social media links containing videos of casualties from the February 15 New Delhi Railway Station stampede, marking one of its first major content enforcement actions since gaining direct takedown powers in December.

- Aditi Agrawal

NEW DELHI:

The ministry, which cited "ethical norms" and the platform's own content policy, sent the notice on February 17, asking for action to be taken in 36 hours, according to people aware of the matter.

"This is not only against the ethical norms but also against the content policy of x.com itself as sharing of such video may create unwarranted law and order situation," the ministry's notice stated, adding that the content "may affect the operations of Indian Railways" given the "huge rush of trains" these days.

The notice, which HT has seen, gave X 36 hours to remove tweets from multiple accounts, including prominent news networks, citing concerns about "sensitive or disturbing media depicting deceased individuals". The notice was at least the second instance where the ministry exercised this power.

An earlier notice sent to YouTube and Instagram in January targeted content containing "misleading and sensitive/provocative information" that could "create unwarranted law and order situation".