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Social media and politics keep on bickeringINTL

Social media and politics keep on bickering

You’ve heard of separation of church and state, but can we get a separation of social media and state? These days, it seems the two are inextricably linked.

In India, the government issued Twitter (TWTR) an order to restrict the accounts of certain journalists, activists, and politicians who have been critical of the Modi government after recent agricultural reforms sparked large-scale protests by farmers across the country.

In defiance of the order, Twitter has decided to not restrict the more than 250 accounts listed by the government. Twitter’s decision has the potential to cause a legal battle, and the Indian government has threatened the company’s regional executives with jail time.

In other social-political news, Facebook (FB) announced its plan to temporarily reduce users’ visibility of political content in Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, and the United States. The decision comes after the recent storming of the US Capitol, in which Facebook was blamed as providing a platform for rioters to organize themselves on.

why it matters
With the power that social media platforms have to share information and connect people across the world, it's no wonder that governments would try to regulate it. This makes companies like Twitter and Facebook both an asset and a threat.