Students at a prestigious online school in India are being warned they may be targeted after they posted a video of themselves in a blackface mask.
The video of the students’ faces was uploaded to a social networking website on Wednesday.
One of the videos was titled “I don’t want my face to be seen, I don’t wanna be taken as a joke, I dont wanna be bullied,” and the caption read, “No one can take my face.”
The students who made the video, named Sam and Yashwant, said they have not been contacted by the school administration.
“I didn to know they are going to be like this,” said Yashwandon.
“They said I am in the wrong class and they were threatening me and saying they are coming after me,” he said.
The school, which is located in a residential area in the northern Indian state of Kerala, has received hundreds of threatening calls since the video was posted.
“We have been receiving messages saying, ‘I don’t want my family members to see this video, I want them to know we have sent you all to the police.
You will face severe punishment,” said another student, Sam.
The videos posted to social media sites such as WhatsApp and Facebook have been viewed more than 2 million times.
They have also been shared on Facebook pages of many prominent political and religious figures, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
One video, titled “Praise be to Allah for the people who are making this happen,” was shared nearly a million times on Wednesday and included the names of the two students who uploaded the video.
It was posted to the page of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
“It was a joke and they are trying to hurt us.
The person who made this video has nothing to do with us,” said Sam.
“But we want to protect our community, we want people to be educated about this, that we are being harassed, we are in danger, and we are not safe.”
The video, which has since been deleted, has been viewed by millions.
The two students said they want to bring awareness to the issue of online bullying and to make it illegal.
“A person can go to jail for making a video.
We want to change the law,” said the student who took the video and who did not want to be named.
“If it becomes legal, we will come and take this action.
We don’t know where it is coming from but it is definitely happening now.”
India has become one of the top destinations for internet access in the world and the number of people accessing social media has grown rapidly in recent years.
