Under pressure, Twitter starts blocking handles censured by govt

Under pressure, Twitter starts blocking handles censured by govt

• By Staff Writer

Under pressure, Twitter starts blocking handles censured by govt

NEW DELHI: Facing the possible arrest of its top executives and a financial penalty, Twitter finally started blocking accounts flagged by the government for "carrying inflammatory and divisive comments".

Top sources told TOI that the American micro-blogging giant, which has been under pressure over the past few days over comments made by users using the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, has assured the government that it is looking into its concerns, and taking stock of the content on the handles mentioned in the notice sent by the IT Ministry under Section 69A of the IT Act.

Similarly, of the 1,178 handles that the government suspected to have links with Khalistani and Pakistani elements to spread misinformation and infuriating content, 583 have been deactivated.

A spokesperson for Twitter in India refused to respond to a detailed questionnaire.

Twitter has been in the eye of a storm following some of the tweets, especially those that are viewed as controversial. After American pop star Rihanna — who has a mammoth 101.6 million followers on the platform — and teen activist Greta Thunberg expressed solidarity with the farmers trouble, the online chatter around the issue grew in leaps and bounds, prompting the government to raise concerns.

The IT ministry, headed by Ravi Shankar Prasad, told Twitter that it was obliged to comply with its instructions as they were being given keeping public order in mind and in order to defuse tensions and hatred.

"Twitter is an intermediary and they are obliged to obey the directions of the government. Refusal to do so will invite penal action," the IT ministry said in a terse message, adding that the "motivated campaigns" on the platform and the controversial hashtag around Prime Minister Narendra Modi were being run to "abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds".

Twitter was told that if it did not comply with the demands of the government, then action would be taken against the company under Section 69A 3 of the IT Act, which talks about a jail term of up to seven years for senior company officials, and a financial penalty.

Twitter, which has its own content-restraint policy before taking down any account, for now has decided to block the handles that were sought to be censured by the government. However, a full compliance is yet to be reached.

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