India warns social media after airline bomb threats

An aeroplane flies above a crane at a construction site in New Delhi on October 6, 2024. Agence France-Presse

NEW DELHI — India has warned social media platforms of “consequential action” after hundreds of hoax bomb threats to Indian airlines this month triggered travel chaos and terror it said threatened national security.

Some threats led to planes being diverted to Canada and Germany, and fighter jets scrambled to escort aircraft in the skies above Britain and Singapore.

The government called the spread of the threats “dangerously unrestrained”.

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It warned social media platforms of “consequential action as provided under any law” if they do not comply with the “prompt removal of misinformation”.

“The instances of malicious acts, in the form of hoax bomb threats to such airlines, lead to a potential threat to the public order and security of the state,” it said in a statement on Saturday.

“Such hoax bomb threats, while affecting a large number of citizens, also destabilizes the economic security of the country.”

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At least 275 bomb threats were made since mid-October, all reported to have been false, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. Other Indian media suggest it could be as high as nearly 400.

“The exemption from liability for any third party information… shall not apply if such intermediaries do not follow the due diligence obligations,” it added.

‘Economic security’

Civil aviation authorities have had to check every flight that has been threatened, many by messages posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The government warning did not mention any social media company by name, but cited an advisory notice from the information technology ministry.

“The scale of (the) spread of such hoax bomb threats has been observed to be dangerously unrestrained due to the availability of the option of ‘forwarding/re-sharing/re-posting/re-tweeting’ on the social media platforms,” the information ministry said.

It said companies must report any offenses “likely to threaten the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security” of the country, and cooperate swiftly with government agencies to aid investigations.

The government on Monday said it is discussing “legislative action” to overhaul aviation and aircraft security laws, and to make those who make such threats guilty of a serious, or “cognisable”, crime with longer potential sentences.

India, the world’s biggest democracy, regularly ranks among the top five countries globally for the number of requests made by a government to remove social media content.

Last year, an Indian court hit X with a $61,000 fine after the platform unsuccessfully challenged orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.