Centre blasts X over 90 bomb threats in a week to flights; accuses platform of 'abetting crime'
Allowing such bomb hoaxes to circulate on their platform amounts to "X abetting crime", said the Union ministry of electronics and IT
Even as several airlines had to grapple with a slew of bomb hoaxes this past week, the Union ministry of electronics and IT on October 23 blasted social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for allowing such rumours to circulate.
This kind of a situation amounted to "X abetting crime", said joint secretary Sanket S Bhondve during a virtual meeting with representatives of airlines and social media platforms such as X and Meta. Further, the joint secretary questioned the representatives on the steps they were taking to stop such alarming rumours from spreading.
Also read: 12 bomb threats to airlines in 48 hrs paralyse operations; ‘X’ handle under scrutiny
Anonymous posts
The threats were received through anonymous posts on X which were later suspended by the authorities. According to the Delhi police, who have filed eight cases linked to the bomb threats so far, three accounts on social media platform 'X' - @adamlanza111, @psychotichuman and @schizobomer777 have been found involved in posting threat messages to fights.
Also read: 13 in 3 days: Frankfurt-Mumbai Vistara flight makes emergency landing after bomb threat
It was suspected that the handler used VPN (Virtual private network) or dark web browser to set up the accounts on X and then posted the messages from more than one account.
Disruption and chaos
Over the past few days, the airline industry has been experiencing turbulent times as nearly 80 domestic and international flights received bomb threats in less than 24 hours that later turned out to be hoaxes. This created a lot of disruption for the passengers; security agencies were on edge and the airlines also suffered significant losses. Several flights, including international ones, have been diverted after the threats.
As recent as Tuesday (October 22), around 50 flights, including 13 each of IndiGo and Air India received bomb threats. 12 flights of Akasa Air and as many as 11 flights of Vistara too received the threats.
Also read: More than 20 flights receive bomb threats on Sunday
Govt cracks down
Meanwhile, civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu told the media that the government is trying to tackle the problem without compromising passengers' safety. "We are exploring amendments to Aircraft Security Rules to ensure that anyone responsible for such threats is placed on the no-fly list. Additionally, changes to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act are also under consideration,” Naidu said.
Questioned on whether there is a conspiracy behind the threats, the minister said a thorough investigation was underway and said ‘any pattern’ cannot be established without it.
The ministry is trying to push for speeding the process of investigations and added that they are being “dynamic and not rigid," and assessing and learning from what is happening. “Everything is taken on a case-by-case basis. Based on our learning, we are trying to assess the situation," the minister said.
The government is not compromising on the safety and security of passengers, Naidu pointed out. The hoax threats are to be taken seriously and so security has been enhanced at airports and there is more checking at checkpoints.
"We have increased (the number of) CCTV cameras so that airports get monitored more thoroughly," he added.
