In a recent statement, Twitter has expressed concerns over the curtailment of freedom of expression in India. The Government of India and Twitter’s recent feud is in light of the government’s new IT rules that aims to monitor online posts by enabling “traceability” to find “the first originator of the information”.
The new rule mentions that social media apps will be responsible to monitor content posted on their platform so that online users are held criminally liable for their posts. The government of India has made it compulsory for social media apps including Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to comply with their guidelines. Failure to abide by the new laws could lead to suspension of the social media app across India.
Twitter revealed they fear for their employees safety in the country and how the laws could threaten online freedom among their users:
“Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve. We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global terms of service, as well as with core elements of the new IT rules”.
The Government retaliated to Twitter’s statement stating that the social media company aims to “undermine” India’s legal system:
“Twitter’s statement is an attempt to dictate its terms to the world’s largest democracy. Through its actions and deliberate defiance, Twitter seeks to undermine India’s legal system. Furthermore, Twitter refuses to comply with those very regulations in the Intermediary Guidelines on the basis of which it is claiming a safe harbour protection from any criminal liability in India. Twitter needs to stop beating around the bush and comply with the laws of the land. Law making and policy formulations is the sole prerogative of the sovereign and Twitter is just a social media platform and it has no locus in dictating what India’s legal policy framework should be.”
Twitter and the Government of India initially clashed in February during the Farmer’s protest which led to international attention from music artist Rihanna and activist Greta Thunberg who shared their opinions on the issue on Twitter. The tweets gained criticism from well-known public figures which include: government officials, bollywood celebrities and sports professionals that unanimously used the hashtag #IndiaAgainstPropaganda and #IndiaStandsTogether.
Moreover, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell raided Twitter’s offices in Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24. The incident occured after the Government of India issued a notice on Twitter for flagging a tweet from Sambit Patra – the National spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – calling it “manipulated media”. In the tweet, Patra alleged that the Congress Party was using the toolkit to wrongfully criticize the government’s COVID-19 response.
A police official from the Special Cell revealed that the police required information about Twitter’s knowledge on the toolkit and the reason behind “why they chose to give the ‘manipulated media’ label”.
Delhi Police Special Cell team returns from Gurgaon after they find the Twitter India offices shut. Apparently there is work from home at @TwitterIndia since March last year. Was this move by Government to send out a message? pic.twitter.com/aCBfjhb5CC
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) May 24, 2021
Other BJP leaders also alleged that the opposition party Congress had malicious intent of deeming the Prime Minister and the Central Government as “manipulated media” through the “Congress toolkit”. The Congress party has denied the allegations and accused the ruling government of “subjugation of free speech”.
Apart from Twitter’s feud with the new laws, WhatsApp has filed a legal complaint against the Government of India. The rules, if complied to, would force WhatsApp to terminate their end-to-end encryption feature in India.
Do you think the new IT laws threaten freedom of expression in India? Let us know in the comments section below.