Twitter censors tweets of lawmakers, filmmakers, MPs on Modi govt orders

At the request of the Modi government, Twitter has removed almost 50 tweets by influential people that criticised Modi for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to reports, the Indian government issued an emergency order to Twitter on Friday to censor 52 tweets.

The official handle of @thecaravanindia is withheld in India: pic.twitter.com/2t4FV5IgM0

— Vinod K. Jose (@vinodjose) February 1, 2021

Among them were tweets from a lawmaker named Revnath Reddy, a minister in the state of West Bengal named Moloy Ghatak, and a filmmaker named Avinash Das.

According to a spokesperson of Twitter, the accounts were notified in advance that their content will be withheld at the request of the Indian government.

The spokesperson further added that the company made these tweets unable to be viewed because they violated the local law.

Indian government cited Information Technology Act, 2020 that were violated by these Twitter accounts.

“When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law. If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, the content will be removed from the service,” said the Twitter spokesperson. “If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only. In all cases, we notify the account holder directly so they’re aware that we’ve received a legal order about the account.”

Besides, this is not the first time Twitter has bowed down against the pressure of the Indian government. In February, when framers were protesting in Delhi, more than 500 Twitter accounts were removed at the request of the Indian government.

The Indian government issued a notice of noncompliance to Twitter, and the employees could face jail time if the company refused to comply with the order.

India is in the midst of a deadly second wave of COVID-19 cases, which has made ventilators, medicine, and oxygen scarce.

According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, India reported 346,786 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, a new record high, and 2,624 deaths, also a new record. Less than 1.5 per cent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated.