Twitter has told the Indian government that it will not restrict accounts of journalists, activists and politicians in India, despite receiving an order from the country’s federal government. However, it blocks an unspecified number of accounts that do not fall into these categories from being viewed internally across the country.
In a blogpos published on Tuesday, the company said that while it should withhold some bills that the government of India wants, it will not block others as it will violate the freedom of speech.
‘Because we do not believe that the actions we have ordered are in accordance with Indian law, and in accordance with our principles of protection of protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on existing accounts. from new media. entities, journalists, activists and politicians, ”reads the blog post from Twitter. “To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.”
Twitter’s message comes amid a battle with the government of India, a key market for the company, over restricting accounts on the platform. Earlier this month, the company restricted people in India from seeing more than 250 accounts in the country after receiving an emergency order from the Indian IT Ministry. Among the blocked accounts were the Caravan, an investigative news magazine, critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and accounts tweeted in support of a month-long agricultural rally raging across the country.
But Twitter restored the accounts six hours later, arguing with the Indian government that the accounts are speechless and noteworthy. In response, the government threatened Twitter officials with a fine and up to seven years in prison for violating its order.
The battle with the Indian government has put Twitter in a difficult position. If the accounts are blocked, the intrusion of differences of opinion, freedom of speech and journalism can be made possible by the increasingly authoritarian government of India. But defying the government means daring legal consequences.
In the blogpos published on Tuesday, Twitter said it had taken additional steps, such as banning hashtags containing harmful content from the platform, something the government feared, in the midst of the protest, would provoke real violence, and that more if 500 accounts were permanently suspended for violating Twitter rules.
But the Post also indicates that Twitter is seeking legal redress to restore some accounts it has restricted in the country.
“We will continue to advocate for the right to free expression on behalf of the people we serve and actively explore options under Indian law – both for Twitter and for the accounts affected,” Twitter said. “We are still committed to protecting the health of the conversation on Twitter, and believe the tweets should flow.”