The social networking service, Twitter on 4th February 2021 was asked to remove 1,178 handles from their platform by the central government, according to news agency ANI. The government asserted that the accounts were reportedly spreading misinformation around farmers’ protests. Apparently, the 1,178 handles are Pakistani and Khalistani users.
Twitter has come ahead and reacted to the requests of the government. The social media platform specified their rules and regulations around removing handles from Twitter. A Twitter spokesperson said, “Twitter is guided by principles of transparency and empowering the public conversation. If we receive a valid legal request about potentially illegal content on Twitter, we review it under the Twitter Rules and local law.”
The statement said, “If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in the location only. In all cases, we notify the account holder directly so they’re aware we’ve received a legal order pertaining to the account. Our goal is to respect local law while protecting our foundational principles of free expression.”
Twitter has not validated if any of the 1,178 accounts have been withdrawn yet. On 31st January, the IT Ministry had sent a list of 257 handles and tweets to be blocked for comparable reasons. Twitter blocked these accounts for a few hours before independently unblocking them. The platform claim that the extension of the suspension was not warranted.
The Indian government reminded Twitter that there could be legal consequences for not following the directive in the form of a fine or jail. The 257 accounts were spreading misinformation through trends such as #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide.
The social media company responded via an emailed response where a spokesperson said that Twitter is guided by principles of transparency and empowering the public conversation.
“If we receive a valid legal request about potentially illegal content on Twitter, we review it under the Twitter Rules and local law. If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in the location only. In all cases, we notify the account holder directly so they’re aware we’ve received a legal order pertaining to the account. Our goal is to respect local law while protecting our foundational principles of free expression,” it said.