New Delhi: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday turned down Twitter Inc’s request for meeting over tractor rally violence during farmers’ protest on Republic Day. Earlier this week, Twitter had reached out to the Indian government for a formal dialogue after the Centre directed the social media platform to take down more user accounts alleging Khalistani links.
“Safety of our employees is a top priority,” the micro-blogging website had said in a statement within 24 hours of the government’s allegation that Twitter was promoting misinformation and provocative content.
Notably, Twitter has started blocking user accounts flagged by the government as “carrying inflammatory and divisive comments”. Twitter has assured the government that it is taking stock of the government’s complaints on handles mentioned in the notice sent by IT Ministry under Section 69A of the IT Act.
This comes amid an increase of users on the Indian micro-blogging website ‘Koo’ as many political leaders and celebrities switched to the Twitter alternative.
On February 4, the Centre had ordered Twitter to block 1,178 accounts with links to Pakistan and Khalistan supporters that were spreading misinformation and provocative content on farmers’ protest. Previously, too, it had ordered the micro-blogging website to take down handles and hashtags that suggested a farmer genocide was being planned, saying such misinformation and inflammatory content will incite passion, and impact public order.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest India News on India.com.
