The official X account of Hinduphobic user ‘Hindutva Watch’ has been withheld in India. The account, which had over 78,000 followers and was prone to making fake claims to foment communal unrest, can no longer be viewed in India.
X user Indian Cyber Defender took to the social media platform earlier known as Twitter to inform his followers that @HindutvaWatchIn has been withheld in India. The user said the account was withheld allegedly after his legal team proceeded and reported the matter.
Case no : 96
— INDIAN CYBER DEFENDER (@IndianCDefender) January 16, 2024
Accounts Withheld : @HindutvaWatchIn
78.9K Followers???
INDIAN CYBER DEFENDER legal team proceedings & Reporting done for mentioned account and now withheld in India. pic.twitter.com/A3uDEmoUZX
Hindutva Watch account has long attracted criticism over its lopsided coverage of events in India, including its practice of distorting facts and maligning Hindu leaders who unabashedly wear their Hindu identity on their sleeves, most notably leaders such as T Raja Singh, Kajal Hindustani, and several others who have been championing the cause of Hindus.
The now withheld account, which often used ambiguous expressions such as “extreme hate speech” without bothering to explain how spitting facts is the dissemination of hatred, was routinely quoted by usual suspects, including ‘fact-checker’ Mohammed Zubair and members of the leftwing ecosystem, for whom projecting India in a bad light has been a constant exercise ever since PM Modi came to power in 2014 general elections.
The Hindutva Watch account was operated bu a man named Raqib Hameed Naik, who is based out of the United States, as per his bio on X. The account reportedly had a direct link with Pakistan’s ruling party, a report by Disinfo Lab revealed. Reportedly, the portal used a map that was embedded by one Sardar Adil Kayani, the same man who ran PML-N’s propaganda in Pakistan.
Notably, this is not the first time that an X, formerly known as Twitter, user has been withheld in India over inflammatory and misleading posts that threaten to disrupt the communal harmony in the country. Earlier, the X account of Ashok Swain, an inveterate fake news peddler who routinely made mendacious claims sharing old videos, was withheld in the country, in an action widely hailed as measures undertaken by X to curb disinformation.
