India rebukes Twitter for not fully complying with government order

India reprimanded Twitter for not immediately complying with government orders to remove certain content, and warned the social media giant to follow local laws in order to work in the country.

Ajay Sawhney, secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, met virtually on Wednesday with Twitter’s vice president for global public policy, Monique Meche, and deputy chief Jim Baker.

“Secretary expressed his deep disappointment with Twitter’s leadership over the way in which Twitter reluctantly, hesitantly and with great delay complied with the essential parts of the order,” the government said in a statement after the meeting.

India has ordered Twitter to remove more than 1,100 accounts and posts that they say are spreading misinformation about farmers protesting against new agricultural reforms, Reuters reports.

Last month, reports said protesters clashed with authorities, resulting in hundreds of injuries and one death. Local media reported that authorities had lodged complaints against journalists and a high-ranking opposition MP for tweets about the death, but the arrests were suspended by the Supreme Court for the time being.

In a public blog post Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Twitter said it had only partially complied with the orders. Last week, the social media site temporarily blocked some of the accounts at the request of the government, but said it had restored access “in a way we believe was in line with Indian law.”

The government statement said that New Delhi considered the hashtag on ‘genocide of farmers’ contagious and unfounded, claiming that it was being used to spread misinformation about the protests.

It also characterizes some of the reports they want to take down as ‘supported by Khalistan sympathizers and backed by Pakistan’. The government did not provide specific evidence for the claims in its statement.

“(Secretary Sawhney) took the opportunity to remind Twitter that the Constitution and its laws in India are in full swing. Responsible entities are not only required to reaffirm, but also commit to, the constitution of the country. to comply, “the statement read.

Twitter explained in its blog post that it had taken steps to reduce the visibility of hashtags with malicious content and suspended more than 500 accounts that were engaged in ‘clear examples of platform manipulation and spam’.

Other accounts identified in the government blocking orders are not available in the country but can be obtained from outside India. The company added that it did not believe the actions it had ordered complied with Indian law and refused to restrict the accounts of journalists, activists and politicians.

“In accordance with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts made up of news media entities, journalists, activists and politicians,” Twitter said in the blog post. “To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to freedom of expression under Indian law.”

The IT ministry secretary told Twitter that it is welcome to do business in India but he still has to follow Indian laws regardless of the social rules and guidelines of the social media, according to the government statement.

India is Twitter’s third largest market behind the US and Japan and has more than 17 million users there since January, according to German data firm Statista.

The current face against the government puts the American company in a decisive direction where it has to alternate between advocating for the right of free expression of its users and compliance with local laws. Reuters reported that Twitter’s leading lobbyist in India, Mahima Kaul, has resigned as the company grapples with its growing link crisis.

On the other hand, Indian government officials are promoting a homemade Twitter alternative called Koo App, and local media have reported an increase in users on the site. The IT ministry has promoted its own account on the new platform on Twitter.