NEW DELHI : The Indian government’s efforts to remove mentions of an ‘Indian variant’ of the coronavirus from social media have raised concern among users and privacy experts. The government, in a letter to social media companies last week, said the World Health Organization (WHO) had classified the variant as B.1.617. The term ‘Indian variant’ was without basis, it said. This is different from banning a hashtag, where social media companies can simply ban posts that use a particular hashtag on a wholesale basis. This came in the wake of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing the existence of such a variant on social media.

Source: Mint May 24, 2021 17:34 UTC