Twitter censors content, withholds accounts critical of Modi govt

Microblogging networking website withheld handles at the request of the Indian government

Twitter has removed tweets and withheld the handles of journalists, non-profit organisations, politicians and others critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, it emerged on Monday.

The government of India in 2021 ordered Twitter to take down tweets by the non-profit Freedom House that discussed declining internet freedom in India. The microblogging networking website only disclosed this request on Sunday, India-based Entrackr reported.

The Indian government just ordered Twitter to take down tweets by Freedom House on how Internet freedom in India has declined.

— Aroon Deep (@AroonDeep) June 27, 2022

Entrackr has reviewed a copy of the disclosure by Twitter. This content is no longer visible in India, but much of it remains available on Twitter in other countries.

Among other content that was blocked by Twitter in India include an April 2021 tweet by journalist Rana Ayyub, handles of India’s opposition Congress party, government officials and diplomatic accounts belonging to Pakistan, an account belonging to London-based writer Farid Qureshi, and multiple accounts that were vocal about the farmer protests last year.

Twitter complying with Indian government's directive to withhold journalist @RanaAyyub's tweet and block columnist @cjwerleman's account in India are part of an unacceptable new trend of censorship on social media. This must stop! Journalists voices are essential for a democracy https://t.co/jtXvHP6Nq3

— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) June 27, 2022

At the same time experts are warning an Indian Muslim genocide is underway, @Twitter⁩ is banning accounts that report the Indian Government’s abuse of Muslims.

Including me, ⁦@RanaAyyub⁩, ⁦@FriedrichPieter⁩, ⁦@M_A_Thakur⁩ and others. https://t.co/pfbvDpsdI7

— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) June 27, 2022

The notice from Twitter that Ayyub shared on her official handle read, "In order to comply with Twitter's obligations under India's local laws, we have withheld the following account in India under the country's Information Technology Act, 2000: the content remains available elsewhere."

"As Twitter strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of the people who use our service, it is our policy to notify account holders if we receive a legal request from an authorised entity (such law enforcement or government agency) to remove content from their account. We provide notice whether or not the user lives in the country where the request originated," it added.

Twitter doesn’t appear to have complied with some of the requests it received; the disclosure accessed by Entrackr only shows tweets and accounts that Twitter has actually withheld in India.

The account Mohammed Zubair who had tweeted a video clip of a television debate during which the blasphemous comments were made against Holy Prophet (PBUH) was also ordered to be withheld in India by the Modi government.

This is what Zubair's colleague & cofounder @free_thinker has tweeted:https://t.co/t8akfjhMXm

— Article 14 (@Article14live) June 27, 2022

However, Twitter told Zubair earlier this month that it would not comply with the demand. As such, the requests by the government may be far wider in scope than the disclosure indicates.

Interestingly, Twitter says that these content removal requests came in 24 batches, but only disclosed (and apparently enforced) these requests on Sunday.