New Delhi: The Indian Government on Wednesday ordered Twitter to block 1,178 accounts. These accounts on the microblogging platform are speculated to spread fake, intimidatory, and fallacious tweets related to the ongoing farmer’s agitation.
Twitter seized Indian Twitter accounts for posting provocative content on their handles.
Twitter says it did not act on such accounts yet as it felt it would violate “the right to freedom of expression under Indian law”.
The blog on Twitter reported it noted the values that underpin the Open Internet and free expression “are increasingly under threat around the world”. The social media platform wanted to share raw updates on its “proactive efforts to enforce our rules and defend our principles in India”.
Indian Government claims 1178 Twitter accounts belong to Pakistani and Khalistan users and alleged they were spreading erroneous facts about the farmer’s protest outside Delhi since November.
Twitter in a blog post revealed “We have withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders under our Country Withheld Content policy within India only. These accounts continue to be available outside of India.”
https://blog.twitter.com/en_in/topics/company/2020/twitters-response-indian-government.html
It reported – “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.”
Subsequently, Twitter was born to empower unheard voices and make improvements in society to maintain the freedom of speech.