Update: According to a report by The Economic Times, the ministry of telecommunications indeed directed Internet Service Providers to block 16 Twitter accounts, including those of right-wing entities and leaders, apart from blog posts and hundreds of web-pages featuring user-generated content on websites such as Facebook, Google+ and Youtube. The directives only mention that 'it had been decided to block these accounts'. The directives don't quote any sections of the IT Act or any other reason for the blocks.Note that we were not able to access certain Twitter handles on Airtel Broadband in Delhi, earlier in the day. Download the pdfs at The Economic Times (second paragraph, marked 1, 2, 3, 4; we've got backups) Update: It appears that Airtel has unblocked the Youtu.be short URL. An Airtel spokesperson has also confirmed to MediaNama, that the short URL has not been blocked. Earlier: After blocking the parody accounts of Prime Minister’s office on Twitter, it seems like Airtel has gone further ahead to block webpages containing keywords like Youtu.be (YouTube's short url) in an overzealous effort to comply with the Government's order to block web pages with 'inflammatory and hateful conten't. This was first noticed by Digital Inspiration's Amit Agarwal. While Airtel has been actively blocking websites to comply with John Doe orders in the recent months, this is probably the first instance in India where it has blocked webpages based on keyword filtering, as pointed out by the Amit Agarwal on his Twitter account. How does Keyword Filtering work? An ISP can censor content…
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