The Indian government has warned Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. to check the spread of fake news. Union Minister of Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Rajya Sabha that the government will take action against these platforms in case of the spread of fake news.
Key Points
- After the recent crossfire between the Indian government and Twitter, the minister said that the social media platforms will have to follow Indian laws.
- After the violent incident at Red Fort on Republic Day 2021, the government directed Twitter to block 250 accounts using hashtags related to farmer genocide, and about 1,178 accounts that security agencies suspect is backed by Khalistani sympathizers and Pakistan.
- Twitter blocked various accounts but took no action against the accounts of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians.
- It cited that it will be an attack on freedom of speech.
- As per the ministry statement, while India had a robust mechanism for protection of freedom of speech and expression, freedom of expression is not absolute and it is subject to reasonable restrictions as mentioned in Article 19 (2) of the Constitution of India.
- Thus, Twitter and other platforms are bound to follow the orders and laws of India.
- The government has expressed disappointment over Twitter’s partial compliance to its orders and the delay in the matter.
In a detailed blog post, Twitter has said that it had taken a range of enforcement actions, including permanent suspension of accounts in certain cases, against more than 500 accounts escalated across all Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) orders for clear violations of Twitter’s Rules.
A virtual meet was held between Information Technology Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney and Twitter’s vice president-global public policy, Monique Meche, and deputy general counsel and vice president-legal, Jim Baker. The matter was discussed in the meeting and both Twitter and the government affirmed their commitment to following Indian laws and rules.
