Share bomb hoax threat data, government tells social media platforms

With 250 bomb threats received in eleven days, the government authorities have intensified its crackdown on social media platforms including Meta and X. The government has now asked the social media platforms to share data on such messages.

The government has also asked top multinational technology conglomerates to cooperate with it in helping identifying those behind such hoax calls, saying this involves public good.

Top sources said the government has traced some people who were behind hoax bomb-threat calls targeting airlines and that action is being taken accordingly.

"The government has told social media companies Meta and X to share data pertaining to such hoax calls and messages made on their platforms targeting several airlines and asked them to cooperate," a senior official said. "They will have to cooperate and provide data since this involves public good at large," he said.

Several hoax messages and calls targeting a number of airlines were received in the recent past. An unidentified caller on Wednesday threatened to blow up the Dumna airport at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which turned out to be a hoax, a police officer said.

The spate of bomb threats to Indian airlines intensified on Thursday with over 80 flights receiving threats via anonymous social media accounts, The Indian Express has learnt. Twenty flights each of Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo received threats, while 13 flights of Akasa Air were targeted, per sources. Five flights each of SpiceJet and Alliance Air also received threats. The total number of such threats has crossed 250 over 11 days.

The Information Technology Ministry has come down heavily on social media platforms for allegedly abetting crime by not responding to hoax bomb threats.

In a virtual meeting led by Joint Secretary Sanket S Bhondve, representatives from airlines and social media companies, including X and Meta, were questioned about their responses to the spread of false information. Bhondve pointed out that the platform owned by Elon Musk was "abetting crime" by allowing these threats to spread unchecked.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology urged social media platforms to take proactive measures against hoax bomb threats and emphasized the need for clearer takedown actions.

The government is also considering amendments to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), 1982. These amendments would allow arrests and investigations without a court order in cases where an aircraft is still on the ground. Proposed changes to aircraft security rules aim to introduce stricter penalties for individuals issuing bomb threats.