![\"Twitter-blocks-dozens-of-accounts-on-India-demand-amid-farm-protests-rapid-news-rapidnews-dailyrapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Twitter-blocks-dozens-of-accounts-on-India-demand-amid-farm-protests-rapid-news-rapidnews-dailyrapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTwitter blocked dozens of accounts in India on Monday, including that of a leading newsmagazine, on the demand of the government on grounds that the users were posting content aiming to incite violence, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.<\/p>\n
The move by the social media giant came in the wake of protests by\u00a0Indian farmers\u00a0that took a violent turn last week, resulting in the killing of one demonstrator and injuries to hundreds of people, including police officers.<\/p>\n
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Tens of thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of New Delhi for more than two months, demanding the withdrawal of new agricultural laws that they say benefit private buyers at the expense of growers.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government denies this, saying the reforms open up new opportunities for farmers to sell their produce directly to private buyers.<\/p>\n
A government official said the Home Affairs Ministry had demanded the suspension of \u201cclose to 250\u00a0Twitter\u00a0accounts\u201d that were allegedly posting content that sought to foment violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe order was issued against accounts that were using the hashtag #modiplanningfarmersgenocide that started on January\u00a030,\u201d the government source said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGenocide incitement is a public offence and a great threat to public order,\u201d said the official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to publicly discuss the matter.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s information technology laws empower the government to seek to block online content deemed as inciting disruption to public order.<\/p>\n
The Home Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Twitter said it complies with official orders, as required.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we receive a properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time,\u201d a Twitter spokeswoman said in a statement.<\/p>\n
She added that Twitter policy is to \u201cpromptly\u201d notify the holders of the affected accounts when it receives requests to withhold them, unless it is prohibited from doing so.<\/p>\n
Vinod Jose, editorial director of The Caravan magazine, whose official Twitter account had a following of more than 280,000 and had tweeted reporting on the farmers\u2019 protests, was also blocked along with the accounts of many farm leaders and protest supporters.<\/p>\n
Jose told Reuters that Caravan had received no word from Twitter on the account suspension. \u201cThis is akin to censorship. Twitter\u2019s act follows multiple cases of sedition filed against Caravan editors for covering the farmers protests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The suspended accounts include popular reports by agitating farmers keen to build public momentum for their campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Twitter blocked dozens of accounts in India on Monday, including that of a leading newsmagazine,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n