Twitter blocks hundreds of India accounts amid farmers' protest
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NEW DELHI • Twitter has permanently suspended more than 500 accounts and blocked access to hundreds of others within India, the company said yesterday, acceding to the government's order to restrain the spread of misinformation and inflammatory content related to the farmers' protest.
The social media giant had earlier been in a stand-off with the Indian government, disagreeing with some blocking orders from regulators and citing "open and free exchange of information", but backed down after receiving a non-compliance notice.
Flouting the government's orders attracts stringent penalties including potential jail terms.
Apart from suppressing hashtags containing harmful content, Twitter "withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders" within India, making them accessible only outside the country, in order to comply with local law.
India has blacked out Internet and wireless services as thousands of farmers have converged on the capital and are being held back by heavy security deployment.
Farmers' groups have been demanding that the government repeal laws that they allege favour corporate-run farm companies over those with small landholdings.
Celebrities like singer Rihanna and activist Greta Thunberg have campaigned via tweets on behalf of the farmers.
The San Francisco-based social media platform is "actively exploring options under Indian law" both for its own practices as well as for the impacted accounts, the firm said.
It has not taken any action on accounts of news media entities, journalists, activists or politicians, reiterating its policy to prioritise providing free expression.
India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had first directed the microblogging platform to remove more than 250 accounts and this week added over 1,000 more under the rules of the Information Technology Act, which allows such actions in the interest of the country's sovereignty, defence and security.
The platform had begun 24/7 coverage beginning on Jan 26 to enforce actions on content, trends, tweets and accounts, Twitter said in its blog yesterday.
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