The social media behemoth was warned that it was “welcome to do business in India” but that it had to abide by Indian laws “regardless of Twitter’s own rules and guidelines.”
The discussion took place against the backdrop of growing tensions between Narendra Modi‘s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and Twitter over tweets and accounts related to farmers’ protests against a succession of agricultural reform policies.
Twitter had already suspended 250 accounts in response to a court notice from the government, citing public-order concerns. Among them were the accounts of an investigative news magazine and activists and organizations linked to the months-long protests on the outskirts of Delhi. The accounts were then restored six hours later, citing “insufficient basis” for the ban.
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The government of Narendra Modi was not pleased. It ordered Twitter to re-block the accounts in a short statement and threatened employees in India with legal action, including up to seven years in prison if they refused. According to the authorities, the tweets were part of a “motivated attempt to abuse, inflame, and generate hostility in society on baseless grounds,” according to the authorities.
The firm stated in a blog post that it had suspended over 500 accounts for “platform manipulation and spam” and that it had taken action against “hundreds of accounts” for breaking its policies on incitement and violence and prohibited specific terms from trending that breached its policies. Some accounts had been blocked just in India, as per the company’s guidelines.
“You have millions of followers in India; you are free to do business and generate money, but you must adhere to the Indian constitution,” Ravi Shankar Prasad remarked, referring to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Many believe it is unclear if the government is attempting to bully Twitter into silence or stop it from entering India.
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