C***d Do Aanchal Zamana Kya Kahega: Is Amazon's Alexa Censoring Popular Hindi Tracks?

Twitter was in for a shock when it found out that popular retro tracks are being censored on a popular music site.

Rakesh Jha
Nov 28, 2018

As if there wasn’t enough imposed censoring in this country, netizens were in for a shock when they found out that popular retro tracks like Abhi na jao chhod kar or Chhod do aanchal are being censored on a popular music site.

Wtf @Saavn?!!! pic.twitter.com/mY4x7GYLqo

— Rohit Bharati (@vividBharati) November 27, 2018

So yeah, all the ‘chhod’ songs are like this. I wonder which other Hindi words are censored pic.twitter.com/MC1Mu7xQRK

— Rohit Bharati (@vividBharati) November 27, 2018

Shockingly, even in the audio word was beeped out

I thought it was only text, they beep the audio too _____ pic.twitter.com/tZbtt3AOAI

— Rohit Bharati (@vividBharati) November 27, 2018

Soon, the music site responded that the problem was not from their end:

(1/2) Well this is…_ We’re certain this is correct on Saavn, and not exactly sure where the filtering is coming from. _\_(_)_/_ If there’s any way we can help, we’d love to! Do let us know the step-by-step navigation of how you’re playing the song and through which devices.

— Saavn Support (@SaavnSupport) November 28, 2018

Soon, it turned out that it was Amazon’s popular device Alexa which is filtering out the word ‘chhod’ (meaning ‘leave’) apparently taking it as an expletive:

I tried here! Same.. ____ pic.twitter.com/lO4HjPhtFk

— Sawan (@sawan0108) November 27, 2018

Twitter mocked the virtual assistant developed by Amazon for going overboard with the censorship

#SanskariAmazon @amazonIN
Alexa is too sanskari. My top song list with keyword #Chhod
1) Chhod do aanchal zamana kya kahega

— GaayNextDoor (@GaayNextDoor) November 28, 2018