The Twitter app is uploaded to an iPhone in this illustration photo taken in Los Angeles, California.
Mike Blake | Reuters
India rebuked Twitter for failing to quickly comply with government orders to remove certain content and warned the social media giant that it must follow local laws to operate in the country.
Ajay Sawhney, secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, met virtually with Twitter’s vice president of global public policy, Monique Meche, and deputy general counsel Jim Baker on Wednesday.
“The secretary expressed his deep disappointment at Twitter’s leadership over the way Twitter has reluctantly and reluctantly complied with substantial parts of the order,” the government said in a statement after the meeting.
India ordered Twitter to withdraw more than 1,100 accounts and posts it alleges spreading misinformation about farmers protesting new agricultural reforms, Reuters reported.
Last month, it was reported that protesters clashed with authorities, resulting in hundreds of injuries and one death. Local media reported that authorities filed charges against journalists and a high-profile opposition MP for tweets about the death, but their arrests have been suspended, for now, by the Supreme Court.
(Secretary Sawhney) took this opportunity to remind Twitter that in India its Constitution and laws are supreme.
Statement by the Government of India
In a public blog post ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, Twitter said it was only partially fulfilling orders. Last week, the social media site temporarily blocked some of the accounts at the request of the government, but said it subsequently restored access “in a way we believe was compatible with Indian law”.
The government statement said New Delhi considers the hashtag of the “farmers’ genocide ”to be incendiary and baseless, alleging that it was being used to spread misinformation about the protests.
He also characterized some of the stories he wants to be removed as “supported by Khalistan sympathizers and supported by Pakistan.” The government did not provide specific evidence on these claims in its statement.
“(Secretary Sawhney) took this opportunity to remind Twitter that in India, its Constitution and laws are supreme. It is hoped that the responsible entities will not only reaffirm but remain committed to complying with the law of the territory, “the statement added.
Twitter posted in its blog post that it took steps to reduce the visibility of hashtags containing harmful content and suspended more than 500 accounts involved in “clear examples of platform manipulation and spam.”
Other accounts identified in government blocking orders are not available in the country, but can be accessed from outside India. The company added that it does not believe the actions it was directed to be consistent with Indian law and refused to restrict the accounts of journalists, activists and politicians.
“In accordance with our principles of advocating for protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action instead of including media outlets, journalists, activists and politicians,” Twitter said in the blog post. adding: therefore, we believe that it would infringe their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law. “
The IT ministry secretary said on Twitter that he is welcome to do business in India, but that he must follow Indian laws regardless of the social media company’s own rules and guidelines, according to the government statement.
India is the third largest Twitter market behind the U.S. and Japan and has more than 17 million users there in January, according to German data firm Statista.
The current confrontation against the government puts the American company in a forced situation where it has to juggle between defending the right to free expression of its users and complying with local laws. Reuters reported that Twitter’s top lobby in India, Mahima Kaul, has resigned as the company faces its growing public relations crisis.
Indian government officials, meanwhile, are promoting a home-grown Twitter alternative called Koo App and local media reported an increase in users on this site. The IT ministry promoted its own account on the new platform on Twitter.