Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Forced To Block 20,000 Posts About Snack Food Conspiracy After PepsiCo Sues, Says Report (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: There is a rumor that Kurkure, a corn puff product developed by [Pepsico] in India, is made of plastic. The conspiracy theory naturally thrived online, where people posted mocking videos and posts questioning whether the snack contained plastic. In response, PepsiCo obtained an interim order from the Delhi High Court to block all references to this conspiracy theory online in the country, MediaNama reports. Hundreds of posts claiming that Kurkure contains plastic have already been blocked across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, according to LiveMint, and the court order requires social networks to continue to block such posts. According to MediaNama, PepsiCo petitioned for 3412 Facebook links, 20244 Facebook posts, 242 YouTube videos, six Instagram links, and 562 tweets to be removed, a request the court has granted. PepsiCo's argument is that these rumors are untrue and defame the brand -- though it's evident that a number of the posts are satirical in tone, poking fun at the rumor rather than earnestly trying to spread misinformation.
Court-mandated censorship like this sets a bad & creepy precedent. If the claims are bogus, let them be settled in the traditional manner via libel lawsuits after the fact.
What if the claims are not completely bogus (not speaking to the merits of this specific instance but a hypothetical future instance)? The public should have a right to know without the imprimatur of corporate interests.
This is India where completely bogus rumors on social media have resulted in angry hordes of people burning or stoning innocents to death. I could easily imagine stores selling these products being looted and burned or the people working in their factories being killed.
Somewhere between the GIzmodo article, which correctly pointed out that the Delhi court order applied only in India, and Slashdot, which implied that all of FB is blocking all these stories, something got lost.
FIRST, Pepsi Co didn't get sued.
SECOND, Pepsi Co didn't sue anyone.
THIRD,It's an INTERIM court order, like we have here in the United States, called a temporary restraining order (TRO) and will require a hearing and proof and may be extended or completely withdrawn.
FOURTH, It only applies in India, not the rest of the civilized world
You can all relax now and quit bringing the US Constitution into it.
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This is India where completely bogus rumors on social media have resulted in angry hordes of people burning or stoning innocents to death. I could easily imagine stores selling these products being looted and burned or the people working in their factories being killed.
Pikers - This is America where bogus rumors spread by social media resulted in the election a 70 year old reality TV star as our President. The death and destruction this will cause could potentially be of Biblical proportions.