Comply with laws in India, take strong action against campaigns aimed at creating unrest: Govt to Twitter

Twitter has suspended over 500 accounts but refused to block news entities and journalists, citing the need to uphold their freedom of expresison

Expressing displeasure over delay in blocking accounts flagged by the government, Ministry of Electronics & IT Secretary Ajay Sawhney, told Twitter officials that it must follow the law of the land.

The Secretary held a virtual interaction with Twitter officials on Thursday night. He took this opportunity to remind the microblogging platform that India's constitution and laws are supreme in the country. It is expected that responsible entities not only reaffirm but remain committed to compliance to the law of land, Sawhney said, according to sources.

Earlier, Twitter had sought a meeting with the government after receiving the Ministry's notice to block over 1400 accounts. Twitter claimed that it has blocked 500 of those accounts and refused to block accounts of civil rights activists and media citing freedom of speech.

"Twitter is free to formulate its own rules and guidelines like any other business entity does, but Indian laws which are enacted by the Parliament of India must be followed irrespective of Twitter’s own rules and guidelines," the government told Twitter during a meeting.

Misuse of Twitter for the execution of campaigns designed to create disharmony and unrest in India is unacceptable, the Ministry said, adding that it must take strong action against such things through compliance with the applicable law of the land.

The government expressed its disappointment to Twitter leadership about the manner in which Twitter has unwillingly, grudgingly and with great delay, complied with the substantial parts of the order.

Slamming the delay by the platform in complying with government orders on taking down provocative content around farmers' stir, the IT Secretary also expressed dissatisfaction over Twitter's "differential treatment" in case of the US Capitol Hill siege, where it had taken prompt action.

Read | Tussle between Centre and Twitter continues

"Secretary reminded Twitter about the action taken by Twitter during the Capitol Hill episode in the USA and compared that with the disturbance in Red Fort in India and its aftermath. He expressed dissatisfaction over Twitter's differential treatment in the two incidents," the IT Ministry said in a statement.

The government questioned the manner in which Twitter "officially allows fake, unverified, anonymous and automated bot accounts to be operated on its platform" and said it raises doubts about its commitment to transparency and healthy conversation on the platform.

Twitter was represented by Monique Meche, Vice President Global Public Policy and Jim Baker, Deputy General Counsel and Vice President Legal.

The "deep sense of disappointment" at seeing Twitter "side not with 'freedom of expression' but rather with those who seek to abuse such freedom and provoke disturbance to public order" was conveyed to the company, the statement added.

The Secretary also flagged the issue around a 'toolkit' that was shared on its platform amid the farmers' protest, and said the chain of events had made it evident that a strong social media campaign was planned in a foreign country around the agitation.

Twitter representatives were reminded that while the government values freedom of speech and expression and takes criticism in its stride, such freedom is "not absolute" and subject to reasonable restrictions under the Constitution.

Also Read | Twitter underlines free speech, caps some flagged accounts

The Secretary emphasised that India remains investor-friendly with a conducive business environment and open Internet.

The Secretary took up the issue of the 'farmer genocide' hashtag with the executives and expressed strong displeasure on the way Twitter had acted after an emergency order was issued to remove the hashtag and content related to that.

"Spreading misinformation using an incendiary and baseless hashtag referring to 'farmer genocide' at a time when such irresponsible content can provoke and inflame the situation is neither journalistic freedom nor freedom of expression as envisaged under Article 19 of the Constitution of India," the statement said.

(With agency inputs)