Twitter suspends over 500 accounts flagged by Indian government, issues statement
The microblogging 'sets the record straight', clarifies the restrictions would apply only within India
Published: 12:49 pm Feb 10, 2021
KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 10
Microblogging site Twitter has given in to Indian government's 'request' to suspend accounts for 'spreading misinformation and provocative content' in relation to the farmers' protest against the farm laws introduced by the government in the recent past.
More than 500 accounts have been suspended in line with New Delhi's orders while reducing the visibility of many hashtags. The Indian government had recently threatened action against the social networking site for not complying to its orders.
However, the organisation in a blog statement issued Wednesday, clarified that the handles are only being blocked inside India and would be visible in rest of the world. Twitter also refused action against media entities, journalists, activists and politicians.
Read Twitter's full statement, here -
'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. 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.'
In a blog post, Twitter said that it is 'actively exploring options under Indian law - both for Twitter and for the accounts that have been impacted'.
Tensions had begun between Twitter and the Indian Government after the IT Ministry sent a list of 257 accounts and some hashtags used by them for action on January 31. Initially. some accounts were blocked but the action was lifted soon, which did not sit down well with the ministry.
The centre had then resorted to a more serious threat to Twitter stating that they could be penalised according to Section 69A, asking the platform to not assume the role of a court and justify non-compliance.