“Tweets must continue to spread,” Twitter said during the deadlock with India

Twitter issued a provocative comment in its report struggle Restricted accounts with India in that country. On Monday, the company issued its first official response since the Indian government ignored the IT Ministry’s order to re-block more than 250 accounts that have been restored. The blocked accounts include the news magazine Caravan and critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The company said in a statement shared with BuzzFeed News: “We firmly believe that open and free exchange of information will have a positive impact on the world, and tweets must continue to spread.”

The Twitter statement came as a confrontation with India’s increasingly authoritarian government when millions of farmers protested agricultural reforms and shocked the country.

on Monday, Indian media reports Said that the government has asked the company to block nearly 1,200 additional accounts, which are protests posted on Twitter and run from Pakistan.A kind report The Times of India also quoted an anonymous government official as saying that India is dissatisfied with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s tweets that support the protests. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment.

On January 31, the Indian IT Ministry ordered Twitter to prevent More than 250 accounts belonging to activists, political commentators and caravans were viewed in the country. Twitter initially complied, but changed course six hours later.In response, the Indian government Order The website once again blocked these accounts and threatened that Twitter officials in India will suffer legal consequences for violating the order, including fines and up to 7 years in prison.

But a week later, the accounts are still increasing, putting the company’s employees in India at risk of government retaliation.

The company statement said: “The safety of our employees is our top priority at Twitter.” “We continue to engage with the Indian government in a respectful position, and have had a formal dialogue with the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.”

Amid the protests of millions of farmers against agricultural reforms, Twitter’s actions have made it a center of free speech debate, and the country is cracking down on dissidents who believe it will hurt their income. For Twitter, blocking accounts again means enabling the crackdown, but not restricting them will have legal consequences.

Twitter said: “We will review every report received from the government as soon as possible, and take appropriate action on such reports, while ensuring that we uphold our basic values ​​and our commitment to protect public dialogue.” The established communication channels share the latest news.”

Despite the polite language, some people, Including ex Twitter employees saw a double meaning in the statement. During the Arab Spring of 2011, the company’s co-founder Biz Stone and former general counsel Alexander Macgillivray wrote an article clarifying the company’s position on freedom of speech.it is Titled: “Tweets must flow.”