The Chatter

Turkish cyber invasion

Over the last couple of weeks, a small group of hackers, apparently Turkish, were attacking the Twitter handles of mostly rightwing media figures in both the United States and India. In the US, a number of Fox News presenters were targeted for some fairly amateur trolling. While in India targets included actor Anupam Kher, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, Rajya Sabha MP and former journalist Swapan Dasgupta and Puducherry lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi. If in the US, the hacked accounts were essentially used to tweet pro-Erdogan messages and warnings to not discriminate against Muslims, in India the hackers added a personal touch. "I love Pakistan," they tweeted from Madhav's handle, which is worth at least a weak chuckle. More seriously, questions continue to be asked about Twitter's laughable security. Questions the company either can't or won't answer.

The price of comedy

Mumbai-based comedian Kunal Kamra has been in the social media wars of late. Last month, he apparently deleted his Twitter account after users unearthed tweets, some a couple of years old, in which he made lame jokes about Muslims and other minorities. Kamra has developed a relatively recent reputation for charged political comedy, much of it directed at the prime minister and his government. He cops to the unsophisticated shtick displayed in those early tweets, and says he has outgrown "punching down". Rightwing bloggers and social media users called him a hypocrite. But he's just a comedian casting around-sometimes crudely, desperately-for jokes. A week or so ago, Kamra made an impassioned post on Facebook, claiming to have been kicked out by his landlady for his political views. And to have lost gigs because people are too afraid to offend the powerful.

All for one

Rahul Dravid coached India's under-19 cricket team to a decisive World Cup win but the lessons continued off the field. Hierarchical to the last, the BCCI paid him Rs 50 lakh, the players Rs 30 lakh, and the supporting coaches Rs 20 lakh. A team man, Dravid demurred. Pay everyone equally, he told the authorities. Social media swooned.