The popular social media platform ‘X’ owned by Elon Musk, has issued a statement saying that it has blocked some accounts and posts on its platform after the executive orders issued by the Indian government.
Elon Musk has declared its compliance with the Indian government’s instructions to suspend accounts linked to the farmers’ protests, even though it disagrees with these directives. In response to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s emergency blocking orders, which aimed at several social media accounts and posts related to the farmers’ protests, X (formerly Twitter) announced on Thursday its intention to limit specific accounts and posts in line with the executive orders issued by the Indian government.
“The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment. In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts,” the Global Government Affairs of ‘X’ posted.
The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment.
In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however,…
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) February 21, 2024
The Global Government Affairs of ‘X also stated that the writ appeal challenging the Indian government’s orders remains pending and they have provided impacted users with notices of these actions in accordance with its policies.
“Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency. This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making,” it added.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has concluded its orders for the suspension of 177 accounts associated with the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march led by farmers around the national capital. Subsequently, these directives were transmitted to Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), and Snap by the Centre, urging them to block these accounts in the interest of public order.
MeitY issued these emergency orders in response to a request from the Ministry of Home Affairs on February 14, a day after the initiation of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march. According to sources, the companies were directed to suspend the accounts until February 19 to maintain law and order, after which they could be reinstated.
Earlier in 2022, X’s account with the Pakistan government was withheld in India. This was reportedly the second such incident in recent months. This account was withheld earlier in July 2022 as well but had been reactivated and was visible.
Later in October, based on the inputs from intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting had directed YouTube to block 45 YouTube videos from 10 YouTube channels. Orders to block the concerned videos were issued on October 23, under the provisions of the Information Technology.
The blocked videos had a cumulative viewership of over 1 crore 30 lakh views. The content included fake news and morphed videos spread with the intent to spread hatred among religious communities. Examples include false claims such as the Government has taken away the religious rights of certain communities, violent threats against religious communities, declaration of civil war in India, etc.