The Andhra Pradesh and Telangana based non-governmental organisation Human Rights Forum (HRF) has said that authorities are trying to censor posts on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram that highlight the environmental impact of a proposed hyperscale data centre project in Visakhapatnam.
The Google-Adani-Airtel project is a $15-billion joint initiative to build India’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) data centre campus in Visakhapatnam.
“On May 30, we got a message from X saying that they had got a request from the Guntur police concerning the post by the HRF, publicising an online petition, seeking transparency and accountability about the proposed data centre projects in and around Visakhapatnam,” V.S. Krishna, a member of the HRF which was founded in 1998, told The Telegraph Online.
The mail by X informed the members of the organisation that their post had violated Indian law.
The post in question contained a video claiming environmental violations linked to the project and carried the message: “Stop the Data Centre assault on Vizag!”
It had a link to an online petition opposing the project.
“More troubling is Instagram,” said Krishna. “After our viral post regarding the petition, Instagram on May 31 straightaway restricted the HRF’s posts in India, including a second one that had an information slideshow present showing images of work being carried out in Adavivaram in Visakhapatnam for the hyperscale data centre.“
The HRF said Instagram cited provisions of the Information Technology Act and the information technology (intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code) rules, 2021, relating to content allegedly connected to unlawful activity.
In a statement on Monday, the HRF said the restrictions appeared to form part of a broader pattern of curbs on public-interest content related to the proposed data centre projects in and around Visakhapatnam.
The organisation said it was “also aware of at least 20 short videos, from 11 different accounts, critical of the proposed Adavivaram-Mudasarlova data centre project that have been blocked by Instagram over the past week.
“Taken together, these actions raise serious concerns about a pattern of restricting public-interest content relating to the environmental and social implications of large-scale data centre projects in and around Visakhapatnam,” the statement said.
The organisation also alleged that ERC (Environmental Reporting Collective), an international consortium of investigative journalists, has disclosed that Instagram blocked access in India to a video connected to its investigation into the environmental and social impacts of data centre expansion in Vizag.
The HRF alleged large-scale hill cutting, deforestation and excavation near the Mudasarlova reservoir, a key drinking water source for Visakhapatnam.
“This is environmental criminality. They are already messing up with the reservoir and the catchments, threatening what sustains the common people every day,” Krishna told The Telegraph Online.
The HRF and several environmental activists have criticised the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to classify the project as a building and construction project under the environmental impact assessment framework.
They argue that this categorisation allows the project to avoid a more rigorous appraisal process and public consultation requirements.
“We are really, really anxious,” Krishna said. “I visited the Kailasgiri forest area, very close to the Mudasarlova reservoir, on May 18 with a few other activists and was shocked. Large-scale clearing of trees and vegetation was going on, along with land levelling and the construction of a temporary access road already underway.
“These activities had reportedly been going on for several weeks. In our view, this is a blatant violation of environmental regulations because the project has not yet received environmental clearance,” he said.
Satellite images show the landscape has changed in the area since February, he said.
The HRF claimed that another project site, Tarluvada, next to Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary, had been given an environmental clearance certificate in nine days.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal highlighted the Visakhapatnam project in a story headlined: ‘Big Subsidies for Google, Limited Water for Locals: The Dilemma of AI in India.’
Visakhapatnam is listed as under “extremely high” water stress by the World Resources Institute.
Google has committed to power the data centre by investing in 100 per cent renewable energy, new transmission lines and energy storage. The US tech giant is also planning to lay undersea telecom cables to connect Visakhapatnam with the rest of Asia.
The data centre will operate primarily with air cooling which uses far less water than evaporative cooling systems, per WSJ.
Google, the newspaper reported, “has pledged globally to replenish more fresh water than it consumes by 2030… In India, it is tying up with a design firm in Visakhapatnam to integrate clean-drinking-water systems around its data centers. It is also planning to equip fishermen with GPS navigation and weather-forecasting applications, and train students on AI.”
The WSJ, the harshest critics of which cannot accuse it of being bleeding-heart liberal, added: “Rights groups say those efforts are superficial.”