HYDERABAD: From now on, when words like Nazi are seen in tweets, they will not appear in countries like Germany and France. Probably when names like Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh appear in some other tweets, they will not appear in India. Why? Because Twitter has announced that it will filter tweets on a country-by-country basis due to different legislations under various jurisdictions. So what tweet may be seen in one country, may not be seen in some other country (where those comments are considered sensitive to those netizens' sentiments).
Whether it is a wise idea or not, here's what some of the regular tweeters had to say. Very happy with the decision is actor Mahesh Babu, who opines, “It's brilliant if they are doing this. I believe that people should not discuss personal issues via Twitter. Now-a-days there are a lot of things that should not be on such a public forum--- especially swear words. So many ridiculous tweets — so it is good if they will be filtering it.” While he was all for selective censorship, actress and popular talk show host Lakshmi Manchu believes such an act will simply take away one's fundamental right, but also hopes that it will be for the better. She points out, “It is like taking away our fundamental right. But, as the world is getting bigger, it also getting scary and unpredictable. I just hope that whatever decision the government has taken, it is in the best interests of its people." As Manchu tries to take this decision of selective censorship on a positive note and hopes that such a decision makes the situation better, actor Sundeep Kishan says he is not happy with this decision. He shares,"It has two aspects. On one hand, a public platform should not be used to abuse someone and cause public embarrasement. In such cases, I agree with the censorship. However, with censorship, freedom of speech goes for a toss. Such a decision simply means that I will not be able to voice my opinion on a public forum anymore. So, I am not happy with the censorship." Actor and artist Kamal Kamaraju has mixed feelings.
He opines, “When someone is using Twitter to propagate negative msgs, that has to be controlled, when someone is sharing thoughts that can be a national threat, such tweets have to be censored. But when people are using Twitter to promote thoughts like an anti-corruption nation (Anna Hazare issue), it should not be censored."