Twitter says it will not prevent journalists, activists and politicians in India from protecting freedom of speech

Twitter has told the Indian government that despite an order from the country’s federal government, it will not restrict accounts belonging to Indian journalists, activists and politicians. However, it prevents a certain number of accounts that do not fall into these categories from being viewable within the country.

in a Blog post The company issued a statement on Tuesday saying that although it has detained some accounts that the Indian government wants it to block, it will not block other accounts because it would violate freedom of speech.

“Because we believe that the actions we have been instructed to take do not comply with Indian law, and in accordance with our principles of defending protected freedom of speech and expression, we have not taken any actions against accounts containing new media entities, journalists, activists and politicians,” The blog post on Twitter said. “We believe that doing so would violate their basic rights of free expression under Indian law.”

The Twitter post coincided with the Indian government’s struggle with the company’s main market to restrict accounts on the platform.Earlier this month, the company Restricted After receiving an urgent legal order from the Ministry of IT in India, Indians were unable to view more than 250 accounts in the country. The blocked accounts include the investigative news magazine Caravan; critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; and tweet accounts supporting months-long farmer protests that are sweeping the country.

But Twitter restored these accounts 6 hours later and argued with the Indian government that these accounts constitute freedom of speech and are worth noting.In response, the government Threat Twitter officials were fined and imprisoned for up to 7 years for violating their orders.

The standoff with the Indian government puts Twitter in trouble difficultyBlocking these accounts means that India’s increasingly authoritarian government can suppress dissent, freedom of speech and journalism. But defying the government means taking the risk of legal consequences.

inside Blog post The Twitter released on Tuesday stated that other measures have been taken, such as banning labels containing harmful content on the platform. The government fears that this will trigger real-world violence during the protests and permanently suspend more than 500 accounts that violate Twitter rules.

But the postal It also shows that Twitter is seeking legal remedies to restore some of its accounts restricted in the country.

The tweet wrote: “We will continue to advocate for the right to freedom of speech on behalf of the people we serve, and are actively exploring options under Indian law-whether it is Twitter or affected accounts.” “We remain committed to protecting Twitter. The conversation that took place was healthy and firmly believed that tweets should flow.”