New Delhi: Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) has claimed that the Centre has issued orders asking the social media giant to take action against some accounts and posts adding that it disagrees with these actions in accordance with the freedom of expression but will 'withhold the accounts and posts in India.' The government however is yet to respond to the allegations that were made in a post on X.
The global government affairs team on X said that they are unable to publish the executive orders due to legal restrictions, but believe that making them public is essential for transparency. The Ministry of Electronics and IT ordered social media platforms to temporarily block accounts linked to farmers protest.
On the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs, social media platforms have been ordered to temporarily block around 177 social media accounts linked to the farmers protest.
"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," the post read.
"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," it said. X said a petition challenging the government's order was still pending.
The post further read, "Consistent with our position, a writ appeal challenging the Indian government's blocking orders remains pending. We have also provided the impacted users with notice of these actions in accordance with our 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," the post added. The claims made by the micro blogging site are set to turn into a critical debate in its run-ins with the government.
The impacted users have been provided with notice of the government actions in accordance with the company's policies by the social media firm. Farmers from across the country have been protesting to press for their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
Read More
