Govt pulls up Twitter: ‘differential treatment on Capitol Hill, Red Fort’

COMPARING THE “action taken by Twitter during the Capitol Hill episode and… the disturbance in Red Fort”, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday “expressed strong displeasure” to Twitter at what it referred to as its “differential treatment”.
“A 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 Twitter representative,” the ministry mentioned in a strongly worded assertion launched after a two-hour-long digital assembly between its officers and senior Twitter executives.
The assembly was attended by IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney; Monique Meche, Twitter’s vice-president, international public coverage; and Jim Baker, Twitter’s deputy common counsel and vice-president, authorized. Ahead of the assembly, Twitter, in a blogpost, had listed motion taken in opposition to accounts red-flagged by the ministry.

“Secretary took up the issue of using a hashtag on ‘farmer genocide’ with Twitter executives and expressed strong displeasure on the way Twitter acted after an emergency order was issued to remove this 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. Despite the attention of Twitter being drawn to such content by the Government through a lawful process, the platform allowed the content with this hashtag to continue, which was extremely unfortunate,” mentioned the assertion.
“Secretary also mentioned that revelations around a certain “Toolkit” has made it evident {that a} sturdy social media marketing campaign was deliberate abroad round farmers protest. Misuse of Twitter’s platform for execution of such campaigns designed to create disharmony and unrest in India is unacceptable and Twitter should take sturdy motion in opposition to such well-coordinated campaigns in opposition to India, by compliance with the relevant legislation of the land,” it mentioned.
Earlier this month, the Delhi Police registered an FIR on prices of “sedition”, “criminal conspiracy” and “promoting hatred” in opposition to the creators of the ‘toolkit’ on the farmers’ protest, which was shared by local weather activist Greta Thunberg.
“Lawfully passed orders are binding on any business entity. They must be obeyed immediately. If they are executed days later, it becomes meaningless. Secretary expressed his deep 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. He took this opportunity to remind Twitter that in India, its Constitution and laws are supreme. It is expected that responsible entities not only reaffirm but remain committed to compliance to the law of land,” the ministry mentioned.
“The Govt. conveyed to the Twitter leadership that the manner in which Twitter officially allows fake, unverified, anonymous and automated bot accounts to be operated on its platform, raises doubts about its commitment to transparency and healthy conversation on this platform,” it mentioned.
The assertion mentioned that the Secretary highlighted that Twitter was welcome to do enterprise in India. “Due to India’s conducive business environment, open Internet and firm commitment to the freedom of expression, Twitter as a platform has grown significantly in India in the last few years…Twitter, as a business entity working in India must also respect Indian laws and democratic institutions.”
“Twitter leadership affirmed their commitment towards following Indian laws and rules. They also expressed their continuing commitment towards building their services in India. They have also requested for better engagement between Government of India and Twitter’s global team,” mentioned the assertion.

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Stating that “India has a robust mechanism for protection of freedom of speech and expression”, the assertion mentioned that “freedom of expression is not absolute and it is subject to reasonable restrictions”.
In a blogpost earlier within the day, Twitter had listed motion taken on the ministry’s notices, saying it had “suspended more than 500 accounts” and “withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders” of the MeitY. However, it additionally mentioned that it had not “taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians”, because it “would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law”.
“We took a range of enforcement actions — including permanent suspension in certain cases — against more than 500 accounts escalated across all MeitY orders for clear violations of Twitter’s Rules,” it mentioned, including that it additionally “took steps to reduce the visibility of the hashtags containing harmful content”.
“Separately, today, we have withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders under our Country Withheld Content policy within India only. These accounts continue to be available outside of India. 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 mentioned.
Twitter mentioned that whereas it had “temporarily” complied with a number of the “emergency blocking orders”, it later determined to revive the mentioned accounts “in a manner that we believe was consistent with Indian law”.
“We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve. 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 mentioned.
The blogpost had irked ministry officers, who initially hinted that the assembly had been postponed. However, the assembly was again on observe by night however not earlier than the IT ministry had expressed its displeasure.
In a pointed launch, shared first on Koo, a homegrown microblogging app, and in a while Twitter, the ministry mentioned Twitter’s blogpost was “unusual”. “Upon the request of Twitter seeking a meeting with the Govt., the Secretary IT was to engage with senior management of Twitter. In this light a blogpost published prior to this engagement is unusual. Govt will share its response soon,” it mentioned.
On January 31, it was the hashtag “farmer genocide” which had drawn the federal government’s consideration to Twitter accounts, prompting it to ship a discover to the platform beneath part 69 A of the IT Act. The ministry had requested Twitter to dam 257 accounts, saying these handles had been “spreading misinformation” in regards to the farmers’ protest, which had the potential to “lead to imminent violence affecting public order situation in the country”.
Twitter had responded by blocking a number of the accounts, however had later unblocked them.
On February 4, the ministry despatched Twitter a brand new listing of almost 1,200 accounts, asking it to both droop or block them in India, sources mentioned. These accounts, the discover had mentioned, “were flagged by security agencies as accounts of Khalistan sympathisers or backed by Pakistan”.

“Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative content on the farmers’ protests. However, Twitter has not yet complied with this order,” senior authorities officers had then advised The Indian Express.
On February 8, Twitter mentioned that it reviewed each report that it obtained from the federal government “as expeditiously as possible” and took acceptable motion whereas ensuring that the platform held agency to its elementary values and dedication to guard “public conversation”. A day later, the corporate mentioned it had reached out to IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for a “formal dialogue”.
Prasad, nevertheless, refused to satisfy them, following which the IT Secretary presided over the assembly, senior officers mentioned.