It is the second time in the last two weeks that the government has pointed out the issues related to certain accounts.
India has asked Twitter to remove as many as 1,178 Pakistani-Khalistani accounts that are spreading misinformation in the backdrop of the farmers' protests. The list was shared on February 4, and Twitter is yet to comply with the order.
Sources quoted by WION said, "Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative contents on farmers protests."
It is the second time in the last two weeks that the government has pointed out the issues related to certain accounts. On January 31 also, the Electronics and IT ministry had sent a list of 257 accounts which the home ministry had listed for trying to trend the hashtag genocide vis-a-vis the protests. While Twitter had acted on them by withholding them, hours later it unblocked them. An irked IT ministry had sent another notice to the social media giant which is yet to be implemented.
In a notice issued late on February 2, the ministry of electronics and information technology said that Twitter violated its order to block as many as 257 accounts that were seen to be associated with the protest.
"You are aware of the prevailing situation, which not only has the potential but has, in fact, resulted in a major public order issue on 26.01.2021. The statutory authorities are doing everything possible to ensure no adverse public order situation takes place and no cognizable offences are committed. In light of these developments and as a part of due process, and as per the settled practice, an order was passed," said the government, in its order.
The government said that the interim order was issued because hashtags and URLs on Twitter were spreading misinformation in regards to the farmers' protest and that it could lead to violence and affect public order in the country.
The government is also concerned over Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey liking "several tweets made by foreign-based celebrities in support of farmer protests" which Indian government sources said, "raises questions about Twitter’s neutrality".
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