Twitter removes, curbs entry to over 50 posts flagged by authorities

Global micro-blogging web site Twitter has taken down or restricted entry to over 50 tweets flagged by the Central authorities, by way of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology previously one month, based on disclosures made by the platform to Lumen Database.
While a few of the takedown notices despatched to Twitter sought removing or blocking of entry in India to tweets that had been important of the Centre’s dealing with of the second wave of Covid-19, different tweets confirmed footage and movies of the latest Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh that left as many as 22 police personnel useless.
The tweets had been despatched by a journalist with a number one every day, a filmmaker, a Member of Parliam­ent, a Member of Legislative Assembly, and an actor. All these tweets have been withheld in India, which signifies that Twitter customers within the nation wouldn’t be capable of view their content material.

ExplainedConcerns on curbing free speech

Earlier this yr, in January and February, Twitter had been within the crosshairs of the IT Ministry after the social media large had initially refused to take down sure tweets about farmer protests flagged by the ministry. Twitter had then sought to clarify its stand on why it didn’t take away sure tweets regardless of being requested by the ministry.
The defiance of presidency orders, nonetheless, didn’t sit nicely with the IT Ministry, which threatened to jail Twitter India staff if the platform did not act. Twitter India backed down, and later stated it had complied with 95 per cent of requests that the federal government had made.

The first checklist of 257 such accounts was despatched by the ministry on January 31, which was adopted by one other checklist of practically 1,200 accounts. Both lists despatched by the IT Ministry claimed that these Twitter handles had been “spreading misinformation” in regards to the farmers’ protest, which had the potential to “lead to imminent violence affecting public order situation in the country”.
Twitter had responded by blocking a few of the accounts, however had later unblocked them — a call which irked the IT ministry. The platform has a number of instances stated that it critiques every such takedown reviews from the federal government “as expeditiously as possible”, and takes acceptable motion according to the elemental values of the corporate and its “commitment to protecting the public conversation”.