Twitter on February 8 said it was cooperating with the Centre which had earlier warned the microblogging site of penal action for not taking down accounts and tweets which posed threat to law and order in the country.
In a statement, the social media giant said it was concerned about the safety of its employees and had reached out to Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, a Hindustan Times report said.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to Moneycontrol that a statement has been issued and said it would be shared soon.
“Safety of our employees is a top priority for us at Twitter. We continue to be engaged with the Government of India from a position of respect and have reached out to the Honourable Minister for a formal dialogue. An acknowledgement to the receipt of the non-compliance notice has also been formally communicated,” the statement read, as reported by Hindustan Times.
This comes after the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent a fresh directive to Twitter asking the company to remove 1,178 handles flagged by security agencies as accounts of Khalistani sympathisers or those backed by Pakistan.
The Centre on February 3 sent a notice to Twitter for reinstating accounts and Tweets supporting the farmers’ protest despite a directive by the ministry to block them for posing a threat to public order. The notice warned the social media platform of penal action for "non-compliance of directions issued under section 69-A of the IT Act”.
The February 8 statement said Twitter believed that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact, and that the tweets must continue to flow.
“We review every report we receive from the government as expeditiously as possible, and take appropriate action regarding such reports while making sure we hold firm to our fundamental values and commitment to protecting the public conversation. An update is shared through our established channels of communication with the government,” it said.
Twitter on February 1 “withheld” multiple accounts on its social media platform, including many tweets with #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide linked with the ongoing farmers’ protest at Delhi borders against the new contentious central farm laws. The handles were reinstated within hours.
The crackdown was carried out based on orders issued by the Centre, asking Twitter to withhold the hashtag and as many as 257 URLs, including nearly 100 Twitter accounts. The government order said the hashtag and the account were spreading misinformation about farmers' protests and had the potential to lead to imminent violence affecting public order situation in the country.