- India threatens to put employees of Twitter and Facebook in jail, reports The Wall Street Journal.
- The threats are to put pressure on the technology companies to provide data related to the agricultural protests.
- Indian farmers have been protesting since late 2020 after the land reforms were implemented by the country.
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India is reportedly threatening to put employees of WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook in jail for putting the companies under pressure to share data related to the agricultural protests.
Sources told The Wall Street Journal that the tech companies were reluctant to provide the user data they requested to India.
Indian farmers have been holding a mass protest since the end of last year – one of the largest in history – to demand that the government repeal legislation that makes it possible to sell farmers directly to private buyers instead of selling to the government . Farmers argue that selling to private buyers will bring prices down because the government guarantees a minimum price on all goods.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has insisted on the farming laws to modernize Indian agriculture, but the widespread protests have caused a major block of votes. The tense protests led to violence, arrests and the government’s decision to reduce the internet for farmers.
The Indian government has written letters to Facebook and Twitter citing specific employees in the country who risk imprisonment if the companies do not comply, according to The Journal.
Technical enterprises and the Indian government clashed on several occasions during the demonstration. Twitter restricted the reports of journalists and activists sharing information about the protest and later quietly recovered. The firm then said it had suspended up to 500 accounts marked by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
“I remind the companies politely, whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp or anyone, they are free to work in India, do business, but they must respect the Indian Constitution,” said Ravi Shankar, Minister of Justice and technology, said. said the Indian parliament.
Last year, Facebook invested a record $ 5.7 billion in Indian telecommunications firm Jio, a move that could expand its reach to the second most populous country in the world. India has more Facebook users than any other country, per CNN.
Facebook and Twitter did not comment further on Insider.