In a veiled attack on Twitter, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slams the "micro-blogging platform" for displaying "double standards" in their handling of the farmers' protests.
Prasad's comments come at a time when the Centre and the social media platform are in a tug of war over the suspension of accounts that the BJP government had flagged for spreading misinformation and provocative content around the farmers' stir. On Wednesday, the IT Ministry made it clear that the company must comply with the country's laws irrespective of the platform's own rules.
Also read — Comply with laws in India, take strong action against campaigns aimed at creating unrest: Govt to Twitter
The minister, in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, suggested that Twitter had taken action when US Capitol was "ransacked" in Washington DC. He claimed the platform was displaying "double standards."
The government has expressed "strong displeasure" over Twitter's delay in taking prompt action against accounts and hashtags flagged by it.
Twitter has suspended over 500 accounts and blocked access to several others within India while refusing to block accounts of "news media entities, journalists, activists and politicians" citing the need to uphold freedom of expression.