India Issues A Fresh Notice To Block 1,178 Twitter Accounts; Warns Penal Action Over Non-Compliance

The government has issued a new notice to Twitter to block 1,178 accounts believed to be of Khalistan sympathisers.

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New Delhi: India has issued a fresh notice to Twitter asking to block 1,178 Twitter accounts suspected to be linked to Khalistan sympathisers and some backed by Pakistan. The new notice was sent on Thursday, last week and Twitter is yet to comply with these directions. This new order comes less than 10 days after the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) asked the micro-blogging platform to block 257 accounts using the #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide under the Section 69A of the IT Act. Complying with the order, Twitter blocked the listed accounts and tweets but later restored the accounts.

After Twitter restored the accounts, the ministry sent a notice highlighting incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech and said restoring of such accounts is a threat to law and order. The notice also mentioned that the government has considered Twitter’s submissions but found it is necessary to take down the accounts in the overall public interest. 

The notice said the social media company has no “constitutional, statutory or any legal basis whatsoever to comment upon the interplay of statutory provisions with constitutional principles or to unilaterally read down the scope of statutory provisions as per its own limited private understanding of the constitutional and statutory laws of India”.  Impracticability or the disproportionality of the said measure (restoring of accounts using the "genocide" hashtag) cannot be decided by Twitter which is an intermediary bound by the orders of the Central Government,” the notice mentioned.

 If Twitter refuses to comply with the order Top Twitter management in India can face penal action can include seven-year imprisonment and fine. According to an IANS report, the first notice read, "It needs to be mentioned that Section 69A(3) provides for specific penal consequences in case of non-compliance of the directions issued under Section 69A of the Act."

Recently, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey came under fire as he was seen "liking" posts which supported the Farmers Protests.