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X, formerly known as Twitter, said on Wednesday it was blocking specific accounts and posts in India in response to executive orders issued by the Indian government, saying the company disagrees with the action. If it does not comply with the executive orders, Ax said, the company would face “potential penalties, including significant fines and imprisonment.”
X’s Global Government Affairs said legal restrictions prevent it from publishing executive orders, but “we believe it is necessary to make them public for the sake of transparency.” X will file a writ appeal challenging the Indian government’s blocking orders, it said, and has informed users who are affected by the orders.
“A lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and the ability to make arbitrary decisions,” Ax warned.
This disclosure by X comes after New Delhi ordered to temporarily block about 177 accounts and posts. Protest by nearby farmers in country. Authorities blocked some social media accounts ahead of protests this year where farmers are demanding an increase in the minimum support price for their produce.
India is one of the key markets for global technology companies. The revised IT rules of the South Asian market give New Delhi more powers to enforce compliance of internet services in the country.
As privacy lawyer Apar Gupta Wrote in a recent post on,
Orders have already been issued to block the Twitter accounts of farmer leaders. This form of pre-censorship is without any transparency or natural justice.
Under the new ownership Twitter will no longer disclose the URL of the Lumen database, eliminating any transparency. It also lost a Karnataka High Court case in which religious (as opposed to constitutional) arguments were used. I have written on this separately, but this is a different matter.
The government will not disclose or submit to accountability. Why block entire accounts in the first place? Is the account itself illegal? There will be no problem in asking these questions because fewer people will ask them today compared to two years ago. As its march toward total power becomes more dangerous, it commands higher levels of social compliance. Either through discipline, disappointment or preaching. This is not surprising, what hurts are the vile comments against farmers on social media. How easy is it to forget that nearly 750 protesters lost their lives? Have we as a society lost all civility in disagreement?
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