Hello,
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As laws around what can be posted on social media keep evolving, so is the anxiety over state crackdowns and mass content takedowns.

I’m Shivnarayan Rajpurohit, and I’ve been tracking a similar crackdown on journalists for The Reporters’ Collective.

A recent example is the restrictions and removals of content critical of the Narendra Modi government in the wake of the Gen Z movement. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was quick to decry them.

But things aren’t exactly rosy for journalists in AAP-ruled Punjab either. Here, the party has found a new way to silence journalists: copyright strikes.

Last few months I investigated how AAP sent at least 48 copyright strikes against Facebook posts and videos of four digital journalists. Meta promptly removed the Facebook pages. These journalists had spent years building audiences of lakhs of followers. In one sweep, it was all gone.

What’s absurd is that much of the content AAP claimed as its own actually belonged to others: press releases of Sri Akal Takhat, AI-generated images of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal, a photo of a Congress MLA, and even pictures taken inside the Punjab Assembly.

And AAP’s response to us? The four men aren’t journalists because they don’t have journalism degrees. But is a journalism degree mandatory to be a journalist? Of course not.

What this investigation shows is how the space for critical voices, including journalists, is shrinking, and how governments and political parties are finding new ways to silence them.

Read the full story here: The Two Faces of AAP: In Delhi, It Cries Against Censorship. In Punjab, It Suppresses Media

Investigating stories like this take time, resources and access. This one took three months and a team of editors, producers, and designers to bring it to you. I also travelled to Punjab to meet these journalists, lawyers, and AAP leaders.

None of this is possible without your support. If you like what The Collective does, consider donating today.

Warm regards,
Shivnarayan
Reporter
The Reporters’ Collective

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AAP’s copyright crackdown on journalists

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