By Aihik Sur and Nikhil Pahwa Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has asked social media platforms to take down any content that refers to the term 'Indian variant of Coronavirus', Reuters reported yesterday. MediaNama has seen a copy of the letter. The letter, sent on Friday the 21st of May 2021, signed by Rakesh Maheshwari, Group Coordinator (cyber laws and e-security) in MEITY, said, "It has come to our knowledge that a false statement is being circulated online which implies that an Indian variant' of corona virus is spreading across the countries. This is completely FALSE. There is no such variant of Covid-19 scientifically cited as such by the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO has not associated the term "Indian Variant" with the B.1.617 variant of the Coronavirus. The letter refers to a Press India Bureau release which sought to clarify that the World Health Organisation had not associated the term "Indian variant" with B.1.617. That release came in response to several media reports which termed the specific B.1.617 as Indian. The letter then requests "All Social Media platforms" to "remove all the content that names, refers to, or implies 'Indian variant" of corona virus "from your platform immediately". MediaNama's Take (Nikhil Pahwa adds) 1. Request, not order: it's worth noting that the MEITY has "requested" social media platforms to censor the content from their platform. It's not an order, because MEITY lacks the backing of the law to order for the removal of such content. There is no…
