IT Ministry tells social media firms: Remove Covid-19 'Indian Variant' reference

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has sent a letter to social media firms urging them to remove all references to the B.1.617 coronavirus as 'Indian variant' on their platforms.

Team Newsable

Bangalore, First Published May 23, 2021, 3:32 PM IST | Last Updated May 23, 2021, 4:03 PM IST

The letter, which news agency Reuters claimed to have accessed, categorically states that there is no such variant of Covid-19 scientifically cited as 'Indian variant' by the World Health Organisation.

According to World Health Organisation, the coronavirus variant B.1.617 was first reported in India in October last year.

The government had, earlier this month, given a similar clarification after numerous media outlets misreported on WHO's interpretation of B.1.617.

In response to the Centre's letter, a social media executive told Gadgets 360 that it would be difficult to remove every article that mentions this as there are thousands of posts and contents.

The executive also said that doing what the government seeks would lead to "keyword-based censorship" going forward.

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