Twitter has told the government of India that it will not restrict the accounts of journalists, activists and politicians in India, despite receiving an order from the country’s federal government. However, it prohibits an unlimited number of accounts that do not fall into these categories from being able to be viewed internally in the country.
at Blog post The company, published on Tuesday, said that while it has blocked some accounts that the government of India wanted to block, it will not block others because doing so violates freedom of expression.
“Because we do not believe that the actions we have been directed to take comply with Indian law, and in line with our principles in defense of freedom of expression and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts consisting of new media entities, journalists, activists and politicians,” the Twitter blog said. “To do so, we believe it violates their basic right to freedom of expression under Indian law.”
Twitter’s engagement comes in the middle of a struggle with the government of India, a major market for the company, over restricting accounts on the platform. Earlier this month, the company specific People in India viewed more than 250 accounts in the country after receiving an emergency legal order from India’s Ministry of Information Technology. Among the accounts that were frozen was Caravan, an investigative news magazine. Critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The accounts are tweeting in support of the months-long farmers’ protest that has been sweeping the country.
But Twitter reinstated the accounts six hours later, arguing the Indian government that the accounts were freedom of expression and noteworthy. In response, the government Threatened Twitter officials pay a fine and up to seven years in prison for breaking its orders.
The confrontation with the Indian government put Twitter into scope Tough spot. Blocking accounts could mean enabling the increasingly authoritarian Indian government to crack down on dissent, freedom of speech and the press. But challenging the government means risking legal consequences.
In the Blog post Twitter, published on Tuesday, said it had taken additional steps such as banning hashtags containing harmful content from the platform, something the government fears will lead to real violence amid the protest, and permanently suspending more than 500 accounts for violating Twitter’s rules.
But the Mail He also points out that Twitter is seeking legal compensation to restore some of the accounts it has registered in the country.
Twitter wrote: “We will continue to defend the right to freedom of expression on behalf of the people we serve and are actively exploring options under Indian law – both for Twitter and for the accounts affected.” “We remain committed to maintaining the authenticity of the conversation that takes place on Twitter, and we strongly believe that Tweets must be flowing.”
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