In a surprising development, Twitter has withheld the account of the Caravan magazine in India “in response to a legal demand”. The accounts of activists Md Asif Khan and Hansraj Meena, actor Sushant Singh, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Marxist leader Mohammed Salim, and Kisan Ekta Morcha handle have suffered the same fate.
Vinod Jose, executive editor of the Caravan, said Twitter did not notify them about the move beforehand. “We have no idea [about why this has happened]. We have no public or private information. We are waiting to know why they have withheld the account,” he added.
According to Twitter policy, if the social media giant receives a “valid request” from an authorised entity, “it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country. Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local laws”.
The policy also explains when the message “account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand” pops up, it means the company was compelled to withhold the account in response to a valid legal demand such as a court order”. The legal request can be filed by a law enforcement agent, government official, or a third party who would like to have potentially illegal content or accounts removed from Twitter.
In response, a Twitter spokesperson said, “Many countries have laws that may apply to Tweets and/or Twitter account content. In our continuing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time. Transparency is vital to protecting freedom of expression, so we have a notice policy for withheld content. Upon receipt of requests to withhold content, we will promptly notify the affected account holders (unless we are prohibited from doing, so e.g. if we receive a court order under seal).”
UPDATE: According to the news agency ANI, the ministry of electronics and information technology directed Twitter to block about 250 tweets and Twitter accounts for using “Modi Planning Farmer Genocide” hashtag and allegedly making fake, intimidatory and provocative posts on January 30.