{"id":82932,"date":"2021-02-17T10:29:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T04:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=82932"},"modified":"2021-02-17T11:41:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T06:11:39","slug":"governments-notice-to-twitter-why-twitters-actions-are-justified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/governments-notice-to-twitter-why-twitters-actions-are-justified\/","title":{"rendered":"Government&#8217;s Notice to Twitter: Why Twitter&#8217;s actions are justified?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Synopsis:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Twitter has acted with reason after defying the Indian government\u2019s legal orders. It didn\u2019t implement the order fully and this action is desirable despite the criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/twitter-might-face-penal-action-under-it-act\/\">Twitter did not act in accordance with the Indian government\u2019s<\/a> orders under Section 69A<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the IT Act. It was required to block hundreds of accounts under the order.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Twitter has said that the list had <\/span><b>accounts of journalists, activists, and politicians.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Twitter believes that blocking these accounts would not be fair to Indian law and the platform\u2019s contract objectives.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This defiance has not gone down well with the government. Independent verifications revealed <\/span><b>that many accounts did not post messages suggesting a genocide plan but supported farmers&#8217; protest.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What were the criticisms against Twitter?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter witnessed criticism on multiple grounds such as:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Firstly,<\/b> <b>Twitter\u2019s refusal shows a lack of respect for Indian law<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because it is bound by legal orders of the government under the Act.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Secondly, Twitter is a private company, and it cannot decide what is proportionate or lawful<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Twitter can challenge the order in a court, but cannot choose to comply partially.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Thirdly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Twitter\u2019s decision indicates that it is denying parity to India with the U.S. The platform blocked Donald Trump\u2019s account but refusing to block users in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourthly, its defiance indicates the increasing power<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and liberty of Big Tech. It requires a clear and plain zero-tolerance response.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Why Twitter&#8217;s actions are justified?<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tension between government and social media platforms <\/span><b>is healthy and constructive. It keeps a balance, <\/b>which was not possible if both were on the same side.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following government orders blindly will seriously impact <strong>twitter\u2019s audience\u2019s fundamental rights<\/strong>. Twitter has also a responsibility to ensure people\u2019s right to free and informed speech.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Big Techs has often sided with the government hurting its users\u2019 rights<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. For instance, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook India failed to act on provocative posts of a member of the ruling party. It is good that Big techs are thinking about users.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter didn&#8217;t ban Trump&#8217;s account all of a sudden despite the repeated promotion of lies. His account was spreading misinformation during the Capitol Hill riot.\u00a0 Before suspending his account, Twitter tried to flag his content and limit its reach. A permanent ban was the last step. <\/span><b>Demanding a direct ban is against this process of twitter.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The current incident is among the rare instances that <\/span><b>Twitter has given equivalence to its Indian audience with that of its U.S.\u2019s.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Twitter chose to take an independent view of the matter and not blindly complied with the wishes of the government.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Way forward<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The attempt to extend similar safeguards to Indian users as the US users enjoy is a welcome step. That would also be consistent with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights endorsed by the UNHRC.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: Twitter has acted with reason after defying the Indian government\u2019s legal orders. It didn\u2019t implement the order fully and this action is desirable despite the criticism. Introduction\u00a0 Twitter did not act in accordance with the Indian government\u2019s orders under Section 69A of the IT Act. It was required to block hundreds of accounts under&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/governments-notice-to-twitter-why-twitters-actions-are-justified\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Government&#8217;s Notice to Twitter: Why Twitter&#8217;s actions are justified?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[1293,1435],"class_list":["post-82932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-sec_1","tag-sec_5","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704809389},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}