'Do not think you can work in country if you do not obey what govt say': Center threatens Twitter

The Center has expressed dissatisfaction with Twitter. The Center told Twitter that the company, which operates in India, is obliged to follow the law of the land rather than its own law.

The Center reiterated that all the accounts they had suggested should be cancelled immediately. In an online interview with Twitter representatives, the IT secretary said the hashtag "peasant genocide" was not used for freedom of expression or media freedom.

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However, Twitter representatives said that Twitter wants to continue to operate in India and respects the laws of the country.

It was reported yesterday that Twitter had blocked the accounts of more than 500 users on the instructions of the central government.

The company wrote that ‘We had temporarily followed two of these orders, which asked for emergency account blocking, but later we reinstated them as they were found to be in accordance with Indian law. When its information was given to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, they handed us a notice of failure to comply with the instructions.

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Twitter has written in its blog that ‘tweets which had harmful content will now be seen less because the company has reduced their visibility. The company has taken action against more than 500 Twitter accounts suggested by the central government, most of which have been permanently suspended.

It is learned that Twitter has implemented the Centre's proposal out of fear that the company could face heavy fines and arrests, including of senior officials.

The accounts were reportedly blocked for allegedly sharing provocative, defamatory and factually incorrect material. 

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The move comes as the Center has put pressure on Twitter to threaten to arrest the company's employees.

The accounts of Kisan Ekta Morcha, Ekta Ugrahan representatives of the Indian Kisan Union and Aam Aadmi Party MLAs who tweeted about the farmers' strike were frozen on Twitter at the time.

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