The Indian government has asked Twitter to remove over a thousand accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation and provocative content about the farmers’ protests. The government has ordered Twitter to block 1,178 accounts with links to Pakistan and Khalistan supporters which were spreading misinformation and provocative content on farmers' protest, sources said.
Officials familiar with the issue have reportedly said that the directions were sent to the microblogging site at least three days ago.
“Similar kinds of accounts, as the 257 flagged earlier, were identified,” an official told the Hindustan Times.
“Some of these seem to be bots, some propped by other countries. They all aim to foment trouble and unsettle the situation,” the official added. The directions have been issued under Section 69(A) of the IT Act that allows the government to take action against posts and accounts that pose a threat to public order.
Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative content on farmers' protests, sources said adding that Twitter has not yet complied with the latest order.
Twitter had recently come under fire from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and was ordered Twitter to take down handles and hashtags that suggested a farmer genocide was being planned, saying such misinformation and inflammatory content will incite passion, and impact public order.
The ministry had also sent Twitter a stern worded notice, threatening the company with penal action for not complying with the order.
Twitter, which blocked the accounts on Monday and restored them shortly after, stating that they constituted “free speech” and were “newsworthy”. The lifting of the ban came in the backdrop of widespread outrage against Twitter for censoring free speech.
The IT Ministry's displeasure is also apparent over Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently liking several tweets made by foreign-based celebrities in support of farmer protest.
Sources said the move casts aspersions over neutrality claims of the platform, and defiance of government orders by Twitter raises several questions.
Moreover, sources argued that any company is free to appeal against any government order if it feels it cannot comply with that order. Twitter has neither challenged any of these orders in any court of India nor complied with the government's directive, they pointed out.
In an email response, Twitter spokesperson said the platform is guided by principles of transparency and empowering the public conversation.
With inputs from PTI