Centre Blames Meta, X of ‘Abetting Crime’ Over Hoax Bomb Threats To Airlines

New Delhi: With operations of over 120 flights getting affected due to hoax bomb threats since October 14, the Centre reportedly reprimanded social media giants, X and Meta, for allegedly allowing such alarming rumors to spread. The Centre accused the social media platforms of “abetting crime.”

According to reports, the communication was conveyed during a virtual meeting held by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with officials from airlines and the social media platforms.

Reports claimed that the officials from the ministry questioned X and Meta on the steps they had taken to curb the spread of hoax messages. In the meeting, the airlines confirmed they followed security protocols after receiving the threats, reported the Tribune.

As the Delhi Police were reportedly unable to fetch the details of user IDs linked to threat messages circulated via X, the platform faced criticism.

Recently, the Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu had announced that hoax calls would soon be made a cognizable offence under the laws. In the past 10 days, the Delhi Police had filed at least eight cases related to bomb threats.

Most hoax threats made by social media accounts operating from overseas

According to reports, the preliminary investigation had disclosed that most of the social media accounts linked to circulation or issuance of such hoax threats were found to be operating from outside India. A home ministry official told The Telegraph that cyber security agencies, along with other security agencies, had suspended or blocked over 10 social media handles, mostly on X, since October 22.

The home ministry has directed the civil aviation ministry, CISF, Bureau of Civil Aviation, National Investigation Agency and the Intelligence Bureau to submit a detailed report on the spurt of hoax bomb threats that have been received over the past few days, reported The Telegraph.

Govt mulling law to take action against such offences while aircraft on ground

Reports claimed that the government was planning legislative actions, which would allow legal action for offences committed while an aircraft is on the ground. Current laws primarily address in-flight incidents. The government is also mulling to bring legislature that would placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list, sources said, as quoted by the Telegraph. The government was considering amending the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation Act.