Farmers' Protest: Twitter Warned As Govt Issues Notice On Restoring Accounts Using Genocide Hashtag

The government in its notice said this is a motivated campaign to abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds. Highlighting incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech, the notice said it is threat to law and order.

Twitter Logo | Stock Image

Citing the unblocking of over 250 accounts and posts which spread misinformation regarding the farmers' protest and used an offensive hashtag, the government has issued a notice to Twitter stating the social media company was violating the Information Technology Act.

Highlighting incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech, the notice 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. 

READ: 'This Is Our Internal Matter': Rahul Gandhi Reacts To Rihanna's Tweet Supporting Farmers' Protest

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.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asked Twitter to block the accounts using #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag and making fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets. Complying with the order, Twitter blocked the listed accounts and tweets but later restored the accounts.

Earlier on January 26, thousands of protesting farmers had indulged in violence and clashed with the Delhi Police personnel during the Tractor Rally. Hundreds of farmers deviated from the route decided by the Delhi Police for the rally and entered the majestic Red Fort.