Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has termed the FIR filed on the orders of the Election Commission over an allegedly defamatory AI-generated video as an expression of “intolerance towards criticism”.
New Delhi: The Kerala Police on Thursday (March 26) filed a complaint against social media platform Police are acting on complaints lodged through official channels, including the Election Commission of India, NDTV Profit reported.
The case was filed late on Wednesday night by the Thiruvananthapuram Cyber Crime Police Station against Lakshmi N. Raju (@valiant_Raju), who goes by the handle X, and others, including X Company. The FIR cited by NDTV claims that the video was posted with “intention to cause riots in the society”. It also says that X allowed the video to be distributed despite instructions from authorities to remove the content.
This post is dated March 25th and appears to still be available on X and the same user account.
Police said the video depicts Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in a “misleading and derogatory manner”. new indian express. The FIR said its contents could mislead the public and undermine the credibility of the constitutional institution, NDTV reported. It also claims the video was shared for the purpose of “inciting riots.” Police said the video had not yet been removed from the steering wheel at the time of the action and appeared to have been posted online on the night of March 26.
The 1-minute 17-second video refers to the political controversy surrounding the Election Commission’s March 2019 letter, which bore the seal of the BJP’s Kerala unit instead of the commission’s official seal. The CPI(M) recently shared an affidavit related to this letter sent by the commission to political parties. The Election Commission described the issue as an “administrative error,” but later corrected the issue and announced that the person responsible had been suspended.
Reacting to the first controversy – the Bharatiya Janata Party’s stamping of Election Commission documents – Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the issue was “unbelievable” and could not be considered a lapse on the part of a single official. economic times I will report it.
Regarding the police case against X and its users, the Chief Minister said on Thursday: “It is not right in a democratic system not to tolerate criticism.” He was referring to the Election Commission, which reportedly filed the suit on its direction.
…Instructing the police to take action is a move to block criticism. It shows intolerance for criticism. Can ECI act like that? have to distance themselves from such decisions, economic times I will report it.
Mr. Vijayan further said that the police were no longer under his control in Kerala and the step was taken as per the instructions of the Election Commission.
The poll commission said on Tuesday (March 24) that it had directed police to remove misleading news about a letter to the parties published in 2019 from social media platforms.
The case against X and the users registered on Thursday invokes several provisions of the Bharatiya Janata Party Code, including provisions on intentional insults provoking breach of peace, forgery, statements amounting to public mischief, common intention and attempts to influence elections. It is reported that Section 66C of the Information Technology Act related to identity theft has also been invoked. new indian express.
Police said a legal notice has been issued to the intermediary platform for prompt removal of the content under the relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act and Rules. According to a report by NDTV, the cyber operations department has initiated measures in line with the model code of conduct to prevent further spread.
Police in various states are taking action over AI-generated or altered videos. That is, indian eraprevious cases include arrests related to AI-generated clips deemed sensitive or misleading. In Kerala, the Kochi police recently issued a warning against sharing digitally altered content, especially in the run-up to elections.
There is no immediate response from X regarding this matter or its response to the takedown notice.
This article was published on March 26th at 2:26 a.m. and 7:19 p.m.
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