Twitter doc exhibits authorities’s requests for blocking tweets of advocacy teams, politicians 

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Social community Twitter was requested by the federal government to dam a number of accounts and a few tweets from advocacy group Freedom House, journalists, politicians, and supporters of farmers’ protest final yr, in keeping with a doc filed by the platform on June 26.

The requests from the federal government had been despatched between January 5, 2021, and December 29, 2021, in keeping with the doc filed with Lumen database.

Leading web firms like Google, Facebook and Twitter file data with Lumen database about weblinks or accounts that they’ve been requested to dam by any entity beneath relevant legal guidelines.

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However, particulars about whether or not the request to dam a hyperlink or account was fulfilled will not be accessible on the database.

According to the doc filed by Twitter, the social community was requested by the federal government to dam tweets of the worldwide advocacy group Freedom House which conducts analysis and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights together with freedom of speech and expression on the web the world over.

An e-mail question despatched to the Ministry of Electronics and IT didn’t elicit any reply.

Twitter complying with Indian authorities’s directive to withhold journalist @RanaAyyub’s tweet and block columnist @cjwerleman’s account in India are a part of an unacceptable new pattern of censorship on social media. This should cease! Journalists voices are important for a democracy https://t.co/jtXvHP6Nq3

— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) June 27, 2022

According to the doc, the federal government had requested Twitter to dam just a few tweets from Freedom House which talked in regards to the state of web freedom in 2020 and famous its sharp decline in India.

The doc confirmed that the federal government requested to dam tweets belonging to members of the Indian National Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, together with MLA Jarnail Singh.

The authorities had additionally requested Twitter to dam the account of Kisan Ekta Morcha.

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A random verify confirmed that a lot of the tweets and Twitter accounts that had been requested to be blocked had been accessible to customers.

In a press release launched on Monday, the umbrella physique of farmers’ unions, Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), raised robust objections to the requests made by the federal government for blocking tweets of those that stood in its help.

“Samyukta Kisan Morcha strongly opposes and condemns the withholding Twitter accounts allied with the farm movement on the instructions of the Union Government. Twitter has withheld about a dozen Twitter accounts in India, including the Twitter handle @kisanektamorcha allied with the Farm Movement, without any warning,” SKM mentioned.

The worldwide group Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the federal government’s transfer to dam tweets of journalists– Rana Ayyub and CJ Werleman.

“Twitter complying with the Indian government’s directive to withhold journalist @RanaAyyub’s tweet and block columnist @cjwerleman’s account in India are part of an unacceptable new trend of censorship on social media. This must stop! Journalists’ voices are essential for a democracy,” CPJ Asia tweeted.