What you need to know
- Twitter is being threatened with actions in India after it failed to ban accounts and content related to ongoing protests in the country.
The Indian government has warned Twitter it must comply with orders to ban content and accounts related to ongoing protests in the country or face the consequences.
From TechCrunch:
India has issued a notice to Twitter, warning the American social firm to comply with New Delhi's order to block accounts and content related to a protest by farmers and not "assume the role of a court and justify non-compliance." Failure to comply with the order may prompt penal action against Twitter, the notice warns.The warning comes days after Twitter blocked dozens of high-profile accounts in India in compliance with New Delhi's request, but later lifted the restriction.
According to the report, Twitter was told it could not "assume the role of a court and justify non-compliance", and that as an intemediary it was "obliged to obey the directions as per the satisfaction of authorities as to which inflammatory content will arouse passion and impact public order." the government furthered accused it of derailing public order.
As the report notes, farmers in India have protested for several months over controversial new laws introduced in the country, which unions say are anti-farmer and corporate-friendly, and could possibly drive them out of business.
Several notable celebrities have added their own weight to the protests including Rihanna and environmental activist Greta Thunberg. One internet advocacy organization noted that India's IT ministry needed to explain further why it wanted certain content banned and that such a ban was a travesty of India's Constitution and International Human Rights law.
