Govt asks Meta, X to share data on hoax bomb-threat calls: Sources

PTI, NEW DELHI, OCT 24, 2024: Taking hoax bomb-threat messages and calls seriously, the Union government has started identifying those behind the menace and asked social media platforms like Meta and X to share data on such messages, sources said. 

The government has also asked top multinational technology conglomerates to cooperate with it in helping identify those behind such hoax calls, saying this involves public good. Top sources said the government has traced some people who were behind hoax bomb-threat calls targeting airlines and that action is being taken accordingly. 

The government sources did not provide any further details on where these hoax calls and messages came from and who were behind those. 

"The government has told social media companies Meta and X to share data pertaining to such hoax calls and messages made on their platforms targeting several airlines and asked them to cooperate," a senior official said. 

"They will have to cooperate and provide data since this involves public good at large," he said when asked whether the social media companies are cooperating with the government or not on the issue. Several hoax messages and calls targeting a number of airlines were received in the recent past. 

An unidentified caller on Wednesday threatened to blow up the Dumna airport at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which turned out to be a hoax, a police officer said. On Tuesday alone, around 50 flights, including 13 each of IndiGo and Air India, received bomb threats. 

Akasa Air got threats for more than 12 flights, and 11 Vistara flights also received the threats, the sources said. Around 30 flights of IndiGo, Air India, and Vistara got bomb threats on Monday night, they added. In nine days, more than 170 flights operated by Indian carriers received bomb threats, mostly through social media, which also forced the diversion of some international flights. 

On Thursday, more than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats, according to sources. Around 20 flights each of Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo got bomb threats while Akasa Air got threats for 13 flights. Besides, around 5 flights each of Alliance Air and SpiceJet received the threats, the sources said. 

An IndiGo spokesperson in a statement on Thursday said it received security-related alerts for 20 flights. The flights include 6E 362 (Hyderabad to Goa), 6E 334 (Kolkata to Hyderabad), 6E 235 (Kolkata to Bengaluru), 6E 236 (Bengaluru to Kolkata), 6E 11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), and 6E 125 (Bengaluru to Jharsuguda). Others are 6E 133 (Pune to Jodhpur), 6E 135 (Kolkata to Pune), 6E 149 (Hyderabad to Bagdogra), 6E 196 (Kochi to Bengaluru), 6E 304 (Kochi to Hyderabad), 6E 201 (Guwahati to Kolkata), 6E 282 (Delhi to Aizwal), and 6E 277 (Ahmedabad to Lucknow). According to the spokesperson, 6E 265 (Jaipur to Chennai), 6E 259 (Goa to Kolkata), 6E 112 (Chandigarh to Ahmedabad), and 6E 394 (Guwahati to Kolkata) also received security-related threats. 

An Akasa Air spokesperson said 13 of its flights operating on Thursday received security alerts and that after thorough inspections, all the aircraft concerned were released for operations.