The government said in the Supreme Court that it is withdrawing its tender to establish a Social Media Communications Hub, according to the Internet Freedom Foundation*. The tender was criticised for instituting a social media surveillance apparatus, and a petition was filed along these grounds by Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress leader. https://twitter.com/internetfreedom/status/1025271438528471040 The Attorney General of India appeared for the government, saying that the government will withdraw the tender and review it. Earlier on Friday, Scroll reported that the I&B Ministry, whose subsidiary BECIL issued the tender, had no records of correspondence within the government that led up to the issuing of the tender. Background In the tender, which was issued by a technical body under the I&B Ministry, the government has sought bids for a company to provide it with a network of around 800 employees to monitor social media and other online communications at a granular level, along with a social media communications hub that automates a lot of the data collection and processing that it needs to run. The Supreme Court castigated the government for the project, saying it would turn India into a surveillance state. Supreme Court petition Trinamool Congress legislator Mahua Moitra’s petition in the Supreme Court captures a key concern with the tender — the capacity for mass surveillance. The tender, the petition points out, is seeking the ability for the ministry to “Monitor individual social media user/account”, a phrase that is used in the actual tender. The tender seeks detailed individual information about ‘influencers’ and emerging trends. “The very act of surveillance…
