Centre Blasts 'X' Over Flight Bomb Threats

Amid a barrage of bomb threats received by airlines over the past few days, the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT today blasted social media platform X (formerly Twitter) through which many of these hoaxes were circulated.

Joint Secretary Sanket S Bhondve chaired a virtual meeting with representatives of airlines and social media platforms such as X and Meta. The official said that the situation amounts to "X abetting crime" and questioned its representatives on the steps taken to stop such alarming rumours from spreading.

Social media platforms, including X, were also suggested to use Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based mechanism to block any accounts that send out bulk messages/posts about bombs. Top officials of social media platforms were also told to get cracking unilaterally rather than wait for the security grid to flag off an account.

In little over a week, more than 170 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats. Meanwhile, the government is planning legislative actions to deal with bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list.

Amendments are being proposed to The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), 1982, whereby the perpetrators could be arrested and a probe can be initiated without a court order for offences when an aircraft is on the ground. Also, changes are being planned to aircraft security rules to ensure stringent punishment for perpetrators of bomb threats to flights.

The Delhi Police have registered eight separate First Information Reports (FIR)s in connection with bomb threats to domestic and international flights over the past eight days. Meanwhile, various teams of the Delhi Police’s cyber cell are keeping an eye on the activities on X and other social media platforms regarding the ongoing threats to flights.