AIB meme row: Tharoor, Derek O'Brien post dog-filter pics, Twitter on fire

Defending the meme on AIB website and on Twitter, Tanmay Bhat termed it lack of rational reasoning

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Trinamool Congress' Derek O'Brien and actor-turned-politician Ramya tweeted a selfie using the Snapchat dog filter. This comes amid the social media rumpus going on over AIB posting a meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 

The Mumbai Police Cyber Cell on Friday registered a complaint against comedian Tanmay Bhat-promoted All India Bakchod (AIB) for posting a meme on Modi. AIB posted an image of Modi's lookalike at a railway station along with a photo of the PM with a Snapchat dog filter, captioned #wanderlust on Twitter. There was instant outrage on this. As a result, AIB deleted its post after being ‘roasted’ on Twitter. 

The dog filter is a special effect application which allows users to add a dog’s nose, ears and tongue over their faces while taking a selfie or on other photographs.
 

A Twitter user, Reetesh Maheshwari, wrote to the Mumbai police handle, calling the meme an obnoxious prank and asked for a legal action against this. Following a pandemonium on the social media and other circles, AIB deleted the meme.
 

Also read: Mumbai cops register FIR against AIB for insulting PM Modi in tweet

Undeterred by critics, Tanmay Bhat vowed he would continue to make jokes repeatedly.
 

"Will continue making jokes. And deleting if necessary. And making jokes again. And apologising if necessary. Don't care what you think," he tweeted.
 

Defending the meme on the AIB website and on Twitter, Bhat termed it lack of rational reasoning.

Shashi Tharoor was apparently nudged by the Twitterati to defend the AIB's freedom of expression, after which the Thiruvananthapuram MP took the controversy to another level and tweeted, “Attn all trolls: I took the #DogFilter challenge! @AllIndiaBakchod”. He even posted a picture of himself along with the dog-filter on Twitter.
 

Derek O'Brien also took to Instagram to post his picture and captioned it: "It's the weekend. Time for a little bit of fun."

This was in reply to a Twitter user who had asked O'Brien and Tharoor to be a "sport" and don the "dog-face".
 

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While a section applauded the move and responded by uploading their pictures with the filter in solidarity, many pointed out that uploading your own photo is not the same as uploading that of someone else’s without their permission.

Tharoor’s post clutched a lot of eyeballs. Here are some reactions to his tweet:

Celebrities like Vishal Dadlani, Vir Das and others also raised their voice. Here are the tweets: