Blocking media, activists, politicians would violate freedom of expression: Twitter

Twitter on Wednesday said it suspended more than 500 accounts since January 26, which were engaging “in clear examples of platform manipulation or spam”. Additionally, Twitter withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders from the Union government. These accounts are available outside India, Twitter added. 

Twitter, however, said it did not take any action on accounts of news companies, journalists, activists or politicians. “Because we do not believe that the actions we have been directed to take are consistent with Indian law, and, in keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians. To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law,” it said.

Twitter, which has been under fire from the Union government regarding tweets on farmers’ protest, said that starting January 26, it “took action on hundreds of accounts that violated the Twitter Rules, particularly inciting violence, abuse, wishes of harm, and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm.” It added that it prevented certain terms that violated its rules from appearing in the Trends section.

The company revealed this in a blog post on Wednesday. The government, on February 4, had ordered Twitter to block 1,178 accounts with links to Pakistan and Khalistan supporters that were spreading misinformation and provocative content on farmers' protest. The government had earlier ordered Twitter to take down handles and hashtags that suggested a farmer genocide was being planned, stating that such misinformation and inflammatory content will incite passion and impact public order. It has also warned Twitter of penal action in case of failure to comply with its directive and had cited sections that provide for fine and jail for up to seven years.

In its post, Twitter said it has been served with several separate blocking orders by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act over the last 10 days.

“Out of these, two were emergency blocking orders that we temporarily complied with but subsequently restored access to the content in a manner that we believe was consistent with Indian law. After we communicated this to MeitY, we were served with a non-compliance notice,” Twitter said. It was for this that the Union government had threatened penal action.

Listing out what all it did to enforce the orders, Twitter said it has informed MeitY, and “will continue to maintain a dialogue with the Indian government and respectfully engage with them”.

“We are exploring options under Indian law — both for Twitter and for the accounts that have been impacted. We remain committed to safeguarding the health of the conversation occurring on Twitter, and strongly believe that the Tweets should flow,” it added.

Twitter on Tuesday had said it is seeking formal dialogue with the Information Technology Minister. It also noted that the safety of its employees is a top priority.

Notably, Twitter's Public Policy Director for India and South Asia Mahima Kaul has quit, fuelling speculations about her departure amid the ongoing situation. However, the company has clarified that this was not the case. Monique Meche, Vice President, Twitter Public Policy, said that Kaul will continue in her role till the end of March and will support the transition.