![\"Playing-with-fire-Twitter-India-snub-sparks-debate-on-compliance-free-speech-rapidnews-rapid-news-dailyrapidnews.\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Playing-with-fire-Twitter-India-snub-sparks-debate-on-compliance-free-speech-rapidnews-rapid-news-dailyrapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTwitter Inc\u2019s refusal to comply with an Indian government directive to block more than 250 accounts and posts has put the social media giant at the centre of a political firestorm in one of its key markets.<\/p>\n
Government officials, business people and ordinary netizens are split over free speech and the US company\u2019s compliance practices, in a controversy that comes soon after Twitter\u2019s top lobbyist in India resigned.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The showdown, after the firm this week \u201cdeclined to abide [by] and obey\u201d the order to remove posts and accounts that the government said risked inciting violence, is the latest instance of worsening relationships between Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s administration and US social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n
For Twitter, the stakes are high in a country of 1.3 billion where it has millions of users and is ardently used by Modi, his cabinet ministers and other leaders to communicate with the public.<\/p>\n
Farmers are conducting a\u00a0growing protest\u00a0against new agriculture laws, with tens of thousands camping out on the outskirts of New Delhi and launching a nationwide road blockade on Saturday.<\/p>\n
As the prolonged crisis escalated, the government this week sought an \u201cemergency blocking\u201d of the \u201cprovocative\u201d Twitter hashtag \u201c#ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide\u201d and dozens of accounts.<\/p>\n
Twitter initially complied but later restored most of the accounts, citing \u201cinsufficient justification\u201d to continue the suspensions. The technology ministry warned the company, in a letter seen by\u00a0Reuters<\/em>, of legal \u201cconsequences\u201d that could include fines or jail, saying the government was not required to justify its demand to ban accounts.<\/p>\n Twitter\u2019s public policy director Mahima Kaul recently resigned from her role, two sources said. A LinkedIn ad showed the company is seeking candidates for the key government relations position.<\/p>\n Kaul did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Twitter confirmed Kaul\u2019s resignation, saying she would stay on through March and was helping with the transition, but otherwise declined to comment. It said this week that it withholds access to content on receiving a \u201cproperly scoped request from an authorised entity\u201d.<\/p>\n Free speech activists said the government should not attempt to use legal provisions to muzzle freedom of expression, while others argued Twitter should comply or go to court.<\/p>\n \u201cTwitter is playing with fire,\u201d said an Indian social media executive who was surprised by the company\u2019s non-compliance. \u201cIf there is a legal request, you are required to take down content. You are free to challenge it\u201d in court.<\/p>\n In 2019, a parliamentary panel headed by a lawmaker from Modi\u2019s Hindu nationalist party warned Twitter after CEO Jack Dorsey failed to appear before the committee. The previous year Dorsey sparked a social media storm after a picture of him holding a poster saying \u201csmash Brahminical patriarchy\u201d, referring to the highest Hindu caste, went viral.<\/p>\n This week, Dorsey became a talking point on Indian television news after he liked a tweet suggesting the company should consider introducing a farmer protest emoji.<\/p>\n Meenakashi Lekhi, a lawmaker from Modi\u2019s party who heads a parliamentary panel on data privacy, criticised Twitter for disobeying government orders, adding she has yet to decide whether to summon company executives.<\/p>\n \u201cTwitter needs to understand they are not lawmakers,\u201d Lekhi told\u00a0Reuters<\/em>. \u201cIt is not their policy which will work, it is the policy of the state, country which will work.\u201d<\/p>\n Calling the showdown \u201cinevitable\u201d, the\u00a0Hindu<\/em>\u00a0newspaper said in a\u00a0Friday editorial: \u201cProvocative posts have no place on any platform, [but] free speech should not be hit.\u201d<\/p>\n Prasanth Sugathan of Software Freedom Law Centre India, said, \u201cThe selective government approach to ask social media companies to ban content when it doesn\u2019t suit the official narrative is problematic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt stifles free speech and press freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twitter Inc\u2019s refusal to comply with an Indian government directive to block more than 250<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n‘Not lawmakers’<\/h2>\n