10 social media handles suspended for issuing hoax bomb threat to airliners

PTI, NEW DELHI, OCT 17, 2024: About 10 social media handles that issued hoax bomb threats to multiple Indian airliners this week have been suspended or blocked by cyber security agencies till now, official sources said Thursday. The sources told PTI that the handles were "analysed" by a joint team of cyber, aviation security, and intelligence agencies, following which orders were issued to suspend these accounts as they continued to issue "mindless" threats.

Around 10 social media handles, the majority of them on X, have been suspended or blocked since Monday, when these hoax bomb and terrorist attack threats started being sent to virtually all the Indian airliners for both their domestic and international route operations, the sources said. The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs," "blood will spread everywhere," "explosive devices," "this is not a joke," "you will all die," and "bombrakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed), among others.

The sources said the agencies, apart from getting police FIRs registered in each such hoax bomb message case, have enhanced 'cyber patrolling' on the social media and the dark web to check for possible linkages or trends where threats are being posted online, leading to the grounding or diversion of the aircraft.