Source: Twitter Blog
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) sent Twitter India a notice for non-compliance with its order earlier this week to block specific tweets and accounts on the micro-blogging site. The notice was issued on Tuesday as the platform reversed the block on accounts that the ministry tagged in a request under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Indian Express reported.
On M0nday, Twitter India blocked specific accounts and tweets belonging to the Caravan Magazine, Kisan Ekta Morcha, @Tractor2twitr, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), actor Sushant Singh.actor Sushant Singh, political commentator and author Sanjukta Basu and activist Hansraj Meena among several others. The tweets were related the farmer’s protest that has been going on in the National Capital Region for the last few months. The government claimed that these accounts promoted the use of a specific hashtag, which stated that the Prime Minister w
Farmers said they had been hit hard by the internet shutdown. âI work tirelessly in the day, helping with the arrangements at the protest site. Normally, a video call in the evening with the family would relieve my stress but the internet shutdown is choking us,â said 25-year-old Harneet Singh, as his eyes welled with tears.
With the once busy Meerut-Delhi highway now resembling a high-security fortress, those at the protest sites said the intensified fortification was a sign that the government regarded farmers as âcriminalsâ.
âThe government treats us like thieves but we are fighting for our rights,â said Harbachan Singh, 60, a farmer from Tarn Taran, Punjab, who is managing a community kitchen at the Singhu border.
India Farmers Protest: Journalist Arrested For Assaulting Police, Many Charged For Covering Rally
02/02/21 AT 3:36 AM Security personnel stand guard as farmers continue their protest against the central government s recent agricultural reforms blocking a highway at the Delhi-Haryana state border in Singh on January 29, 2021. (Photo by Arun KUMAR / AFP) (Photo by ARUN KUMAR/AFP via Getty Images) Photo: ARUN KUMAR/AFP via Getty Images
KEY POINTS
Indian journalist Mandeep Punia was sent to jail for 14 days for allegedly assaulting police personnel while covering the farmers protest in India
Twitter blocked 250 accounts of journalists and notable personalities for covering or supporting the farmers protests
Twitter Withholds Accounts Tweeting on Farmers Protests, Restores Them After Several Hours
Among the accounts that were withheld are those belonging to the magazine Caravan , the farmers protest account Kisan Ekta Morcha and several independent journalists and activists.
Screenshots of the accounts that have been abruptly withheld by Twitter. Photos: Twitter/@zoo bear
Tech01/Feb/2021
New Delhi: A slew of Twitter accounts â belonging to individuals, groups and media organisations â were withheld by the social media site in response to legal demands on Monday, February 1. The only common thread connecting these accounts is that nearly all of them had been posting updates and opinions on the farmers’ protests regularly.
Concerns raised over blocking of Twitter accounts in India
February 03, 2021
These Twitter accounts were reinstated a couple of hours later
Twitter’s shocking decision to temporarily block hundreds of accounts in India at the behest of the government has raised concerns about the power exerted by the government over social media companies and the inability of social media behemoths to take an independent stance. The manner in which the orders were issued by the government is still keeping people in the dark about why this entire episode unravelled in the first place.
Late afternoon on February 1, over 250 accounts and tweets on Twitter - typically associated with the farmers’ protests in India - started getting blocked en masse, in response to what Twitter described as a “properly scoped request from an authorized entity.” While access to these accounts were reinstated a couple of hours later, the damage was done that the social media giant had blocked access to hundre