New Delhi [India], December 10 (ANI): Adani Group has written a letter to Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad over a planned attempt to malign the reputation of the prominent business houses through fake news on Twitter to systematically wreak havoc even as the Centre has launched a campaign focusing on making India self-reliant in various sectors to promote investments and generate jobs locally.
The company sought Prasad’s intervention, stating that “as a country, we must address this nexus of foreign-funded activism against Indian companies”.
“A planned attempt to malign the reputation of the prominent business houses through fake news on Twitter, urging several Twitterati to participate in a ‘Tweetstorm’, to systematically wreak havoc has surfaced when the Indian government has launched a campaign focusing on making India self-reliant in various sectors to promote investments and generate jobs locally,” Adani Group wrote in the letter.
“It is vital to determine the source of these conspiratorial operations targeting Indian institutions and businesses in order to protect public monies invested in such businesses,” the company said in the letter, a copy of which was accessed by ANI.
The Government of India informed that it has received the letter and is investigating the matter.
“On November 27, 2020 a discovery of an online Tweet-Deck was brought to our notice urging several Twitteratis to participate in a ‘Tweeterstorm’ solely with the intent to damage the Adani Group’s reputation. When the document was uncovered, several members were making real-time edits and at the time of access we were able view over 100 defamatory tweets against the Adani Group,” the company stated in the letter.
Adani Group claimed that it recorded a live video of this activity and shared its copy to the Minister.
“These organized operations to target us and the institutions online is being undertaken with the malafied intent to hurt and cause the Adani Group substantial economic damage. This is an illegitimate endangerment of public interest in the name of free expression. It is for this reason that this is beyond the pale of protection that is guaranteed under the Constitution. Parliament had this in mind while enacting Section 69-A, Information Technology Act 2000. We therefore strongly request that such groups and individuals amplifying sensitive, critical topics and playing with the sentiment of the people to create mass unrest in various parts of the country must be dealt with utmost severity,” the letter stated.
Speaking about the promotion of hashtags trend on Twitter to “fire up and ignite tensions” amongst the Twitter and larger digital community, the Adani Group highlighted in the letter about #FundFarmersNotCoal and said: “At a time of such uncertainty for our country, this further fueled turmoil. This sort of manipulation and slander, often under the umbrella of the Stop Adani movement can affect shareholder value and impede progress of a conglomerate that has successfully contributed to the nation’s GDP and employment rates.”
The letter said that these organised operations to target “us” and the institutions online are being undertaken with the “malafide intent to hurt and cause the Adani Group substantial economic damage”. The company stressed that this is an illegitimate endangerment of public interest in the name of free expression guaranteed under the Constitution.
It further urged the Union Minister that such groups and individuals amplifying sensitive, critical topics and playing with the sentiment of the people to create mass unrest in various parts of the country “must be dealt with utmost severity”. (ANI)
