An important debate about freedom of the Internet has been brewing for years in India (I covered, back in January, a similar discussion in Egypt here). The debate intensified recently as threatening messages warning Assam residents that Indian Muslims were planning to attack non-Muslims from India’s northeast region began appearing on Indian cell phones, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts. The text and social media messages set off widespread panic and consequently tens of thousands of northeasterners boarded buses and trains to escape what they believed to be an imminent massacre of non-Muslims. The Indian government is considering holding the social media companies that hosted the threatening messages partly accountable, especially for their inability or refusal to take them down. The Diplomat has a comprehensive piece on the debate in India. Excerpts:
