Micro-blogging platform clarifies it hasn't taken any action on accounts from the media, activists and politicians
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Read Twitter's response to government's blocking orders here
The first of these orders was issued on January 31 and directed Twitter to block 257 URLs and one hashtag. Twitter, however, took action only on February 1, and also restored access on the same day. Before that, it had met the Section 69A blocking committee wherein it argued that the content was “free speech” and “newsworthy” and hence should not be taken down, The Indian Express reported.
From the non-compliance notice that MeitY subsequently sent to Twitter on February 2, which was first reported by The Indian Express, it is clear that the emergency orders were issued in relation to the hashtag ‘#ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide’. The 18-page notice said the “impracticability or the disproportionality” of blocking the hashtag could not be decided by Twitter. “[T]he content attached to the said hashtag had been found to be directly falling afoul of Section 69A of the IT Act. In this regard, it is necessary to point out to the stated irrationality of Twitter conducting a purported constitutional balancing act in the absence of any legal mandate,” the notice read. From The Indian Express report and Twitter’s latest statement, it is also clear that the accounts of news magazine The Caravan, Kisan Ekta Morcha, Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) (Ugrahan), Tractor2twitr, jatt_junction, Prasar Bharti CEO Sashi Shekhar Vempati, activist Hansraj Meena, actor Sushant Singh, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Jarnail Singh and CPM leader Mohammad Salim were all blocked under the emergency provisions of Section 69A, through which the designated officer can advise the IT secretary to pass an interim measure. The blocking committee must be convened within 48 hours of the passage of the interim order to give their recommendations after which the IT secretary can either confirm or revoke it. Most of these accounts have been supportive of the farmers’ agitation against the controversial Farm Acts. Twitter refused to comment on the identity of the blocked accounts. Forbes India also reached out to Manish Maheshwari, the managing director of Twitter India, a number of times via phone and messages but did not hear back. On February 8, MeitY sent Twitter a list of another 1,178 accounts that it wants blocked, India Today reported. These accounts have reportedly been flagged for sympathising with the Khalistani movement or for having backing from Pakistan. To comply with the blocking orders, Twitter said it had taken steps to reduce the visibility of hashtags containing harmful content. It also took a range of enforcement actions, including permanent suspension in certain cases, “against more than 500 accounts escalated across all MeitY orders” which are in clear violation of Twitter’s Rules. The microblogging platform informed MeitY of its enforcement actions on Wednesday. Facebook, Google got blocking orders as well The government of India sent Section 69A blocking orders to not just Twitter, but Google and Facebook as well to take down content related to farmers’ protests, Forbes India has learnt. Twitter drew the IT ministry’s ire because it restored access to some of the accounts after drawing public backlash, while the other two platforms quietly blocked access to content on Facebook and YouTube, respectively. While it is not clear what content was removed on Facebook in compliance with the blocking order, the video of at least one song supportive of the farmers’ protests has been taken down on YouTube. Blocked videos on YouTube included Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal’s song Ailaan, which is critical of the controversial farm laws, The Tribune reported. While Ailaan is not available on Kanwar Grewal’s channel, it is still available on other YouTube channels, Forbes India found.