The Indian government has banned social media in Kashmir: services including Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, YouTube (upload), Vine, Google+, QQ, WeChat, Qzone, Tumblr, Skype, Viber, Line, Snapchat, Pinterest, Telegram, Reddit, Snapfish, Xanga, Buzznet, Flickr and Baidu have been banned for a month. The order states that "elements inimical to public order and tranquility" were "transmitting objectionable contents, to spread disaffection amongst the public at large in Kashmir valley against the State Administration and the Security Forces, with a few to inciting them to commit various offences at a large scale, causing damage to life and property and disturb the peace and tranquility..." The report order also states that "antinational and inimical elements largely succeed in transmitting unverified objectionable material and inflammatory material/content through the medium of these Social Networking sites and Instant Messaging Services without any accountability..." How was this list, which includes services that are barely used in India, such as QQ, Qzone, Wechat, Baidu, Line and Google+, prepared? Does anyone still use Xanga? Aroon Deep suggests that this list could have been compiled from here. So the Indian government chose what to block based on a Google search result for top social networks in the world? BREAKING: Copy of order shutting down Internet services in Kashmir. #KeepItOn pic.twitter.com/AqgMgYidXS — IFF (@internetfreedom) April 26, 2017 @internetfreedom There are three pages in the order. This is the 3rd page. pic.twitter.com/Bwb7tT9a00 — Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh) April 26, 2017 A few things: 1. What videos exactly? This Washington Post article says that the videos circulating…
