Twitter withholds some accounts on govt orders but vows to promote free speech
- Videos and photos of clashes between police and farmers were circulated widely on Twitter where a section of users used controversial hashtag referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and farmer genocide
NEW DELHI: Days after the Indian government issued a non-compliance notice to Twitter, threatening penal action, the micro blogging platform on Wednesday said it has taken action against some accounts identified by the government but asserted that no action was taken against those belonging news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians as it believes that doing so "would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law".
"Because we do not believe that the actions we have been directed to take are consistent with Indian law, and, in keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians. To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law," said Twitter in a blog post on Wednesday.
Also Read | Inside the third front of the farm agitation
The tussle between Twitter and Centre started late last month, when the former unblocked 250 accounts that used controversial hashtags referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and farmer genocide. The IT Ministry had sent a list of handles and tweets to be blocked and while Twitter had blocked them for a few hours, it had later unilaterally unblocked them.
An official at the social media company had then told Mint it had tilted in favour of free speech.
The social media platform said it has taken steps to reduce visibility of the hashtags containing harmful content, which included prohibiting them from trending on Twitter and appearing as recommended search terms.
It has also taken a range of enforcement actions — including permanent suspension in certain cases — against more than 500 accounts escalated across all MeitY orders for clear violations of Twitter’s Rules. Separately, it has withheld a portion of the accounts (tweet, media or thread) identified in the blocking orders under "Country Withheld Content" policy within India only. These accounts continue to be available outside of India.
"We informed MeitY of our enforcement actions today, February 10, 2021. We will continue to maintain dialogue with the Indian government and respectfully engage with them," Twitter said.
Twitter has been facing heat from the government over ongoing farmers' protests which turned violent on 26 January. Videos and photos of clashes between police and farmers were circulated widely on Twitter where a section of users used controversial hashtag referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and farmer genocide.
Over the course of the last 10 days, Twitter said that it has been served with several separate blocking orders by the IT ministry under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Of these, two were emergency blocking orders that were temporarily complied with, but were subsequently saw access restored to the content in a manner that Twitter believe was consistent with Indian law. After Twitter communicated this to the ministry, it was served with a non-compliance notice.
"We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve. We are exploring options under Indian law — both for Twitter and for the accounts that have been impacted. We remain committed to safeguarding the health of the conversation occurring on Twitter, and strongly believe that the Tweets should flow," Twitter said.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, Twitter said safety of its employees was top priority.
"We continue to be engaged with the Government of India from a position of respect and have reached out to the Honourable Minister, ministry of electronics and information technology for a formal dialogue," it noted.
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First Published:10 Feb 2021, 12:51 PM IST
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