“Remain committed to bringing global Indian diaspora stories”: The Australia Today

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Melbourne [Australia], November 11 (ANI): Following a ban on the social media handles and pages of The Australia Today in Canada, the outlet on Monday reaffirmed its dedication to sharing diverse Australian multicultural and global Indian diaspora stories with its readers.

The Australia Today provides news, analysis and opinions from Australia which are focused on multicultural communities and the Indian subcontinent.

Sharing a post on X, The Australia Today wrote, “The Australia Today remains committed to bringing diverse Australian multicultural stories and global Indian Diaspora perspectives to our readers, and we look forward to continued engagement with our Canadian audience, albeit through other accessible channels beyond Meta’s platforms. We hope that all stakeholders can work towards ensuring that important news content is accessible to everyone without barriers.”

The Australia Today further said that another news outlet known for “anti-India reporting and Khalistan propaganda,” remains accessible in Canada on both Facebook and Instagram.

The news outlet said, “Considering that another news outlet, known for its alleged anti-India reporting and Khalistan propaganda, remains accessible on both Facebook and Instagram in Canada, our logical conclusion was that there was selective blocking of our content on the platforms. To date, The Australia Today has not received any official notification or email from Meta regarding specific restrictions applied to our Facebook or Instagram pages.”

The outlet in a statement further said that they learnt about the accessibility of their Facebook and Instagram pages in Canada after publishing an interview with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.

“We acknowledge the recent statement from the Canadian Foreign Ministry and would like to clarify that we first learned that users in Canada were unable to access our Facebook and Instagram pages shortly after publishing our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. Before this, we were not aware of any issues regarding the accessibility of ‘The Australia Today’ content in Canada on Meta platforms,” The Australia Today said.

Notably, Canada blocked the outlet’s social media handles and pages shortly after it aired a press conference of EAM Jaishankar with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra. During the presser, the EAM slammed Canada for making allegations against India without any specific evidence and termed the “surveillance of Indian diplomats” unacceptable and also highlighted that the “political space has been given in Canada to anti-India elements.”

Earlier on November 7, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) lambasted Canada for its “hypocrisy towards freedom of speech” following the blocking of ‘The Australia Today’ in the country. (ANI)