Image: IANS

Microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) has claimed that the Indian government issued orders to act on specific accounts and posts, leading to potential penalties, fines, and even imprisonment.

The post, shared by the X handle of the platform’s global government affairs team, also claimed that the platform will withhold those accounts and posts in questions, but it disagrees with the actions, saying that ‘freedom of speech’ should extend to these accounts and posts.

This is not the first time that the microblogging site has locked horns with Indian authorities.

During an Interview in June 2023, Jack Dorsey, who was heading X (then Twitter) in 2022, said, “India is one of the countries which had many requests around farmers protests, around particular journalists which were critical of the government, and it manifested in ways such as ‘we will shut Twitter down in India’ ... we would raid the homes of your employees’, which they did; ‘we will shut down your offices if you don't follow suit’. And this is India, a democratic country.”

In April 2023, top boss Elon Musk said that he would comply with the law of the land in India rather than send his people to jail as the country has ‘strict social media laws’.

In June 2023, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by the platform, challenging blocking orders issued by the Central government and also imposed a cost of ₹50 lakh on the microblogging platform.

“All platforms have to be in compliance with the Indian law and Twitter under Jack Dorsey repeatedly refused to do so,” the union minister of state for electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had reacted to the court’s verdict.

(With inputs from IANS)

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