Twitter restricts over a dozen high-profile accounts in India following ‘legal demand’
Twitter blocked access to over a dozen high-profile individuals in India on Monday to comply with a “legal request”, prompting confusion and anger among users who are seeking an explanation for this action.
Among those whose accounts have been restricted in India include Caravan, a news outlet that conducts investigative journalism, political commentator Sanjukta Basu, activist Hansraj Meena, actor Sushant Singh, and Shashi Shekhar Vempati, chief executive of state-run brodcasting agency Prasar Bharti. Accounts of at least two politicians with Aam Aadmi Party — Preeti Sharma Menon and Jarnail Singh — that governs the National Capital Territory of Delhi have also been withheld.
At least two popular accounts linked with recent protests by farmers — Kisan Ekta Morcha and Tractor2Twitr — in India have also been restricted.
At this point, it remains unclear who all have pursued the legal action that prompted Twitter to restrict these accounts in India. The accounts are accessible to users out of the country. But at least in the case of political commentator Basu, Twitter told him that Indian authorities had issued the legal demand against some accounts that included his and that it was talking with the authorities.
In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said, “many countries have laws that may apply to Tweets and/or Twitter account content. In our continuing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time. Transparency is vital to protecting freedom of expression, so we have a notice policy for withheld content.”
Twitter blocked access to over a dozen high-profile individuals in India on Monday to comply with a “legal request”, prompting confusion and anger among users who are seeking an explanation for this action. Among those whose accounts have been restricted in India include Caravan, a news outlet that conducts investigative…
