Amidst The Farmers’ Protest, Several Accounts Supporting Them are Being Withheld; X Says it Disagrees But will Comply
Image Source: MSN
The Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) recently issued orders to withhold 177 social media accounts associated with farmers’ protests to maintain law & order. The government had already urged for their blockade on 14 February, although temporary in nature until the protests subside, they can be retrieved afterwards. The order in question is towards forty-two Twitter accounts, fourteen Instagram accounts, one Snapchat, and one Reddit account.
Among those who have been blocked are Manoj Singh Duhan of Unionist Sikh mission, Sarvan Singh Pandher, Ramandeep Singh, Harpal Sangha, and Surjit Singh Phull. Notably, Sandeep Singh & Mandeep Punia, journalists who were covering the farmers’ protests, are also under the social media blockade.
This report comes after the news of a farmer who was killed at Khanauri, allegedly by a bullet. Moreover, the farmers at the border have sustained injuries in the clashes, with rubber and pellet guns being used to disperse and push them back.
Today, the Global Affairs team of X stated that “In compliance, we will withhold these accounts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.” Replying to them with an image of the accounts attached, Co-founder of Alt-News & famous fact-checker Mohammed Zubair said, “A lot of accounts critical of BJP Govt. have either been suspended or withheld in India. Many influential X accounts of ground reporters, prominent farm unionists covering the protest are suspended too.” X officials will also be subjected to fine & imprisonment if they do not adhere to it, the executive order states, which has not been disclosed yet due to legal restrictions, X said.
In an interview with the BBC, Elon Musk said, “The rules in India for what can appear on social media are quite strict. We can’t go beyond the laws of a country.” He further said, “We have a choice of either our people go to prison or we comply with the laws. We will comply with the laws. Same goes for the BBC.” possibly referring to the documentary they had released on Narendra Modi’s management of the Gujarat riots of 2002. It’s worthy to note that a month after the documentary was released, IT officials had conducted surveys in BBC offices at Mumbai & Delhi, reportedly on international taxation & transfer pricing issues.
While talking to The Quint, Gurdeep Sangha, a farm leader said, “This is not just about our social media accounts being blocked as a punishment. The game behind this is a lot more sinister. A devious plan is at work as to how to suppress our voices. On one side, Godi media is being given permission to spread wrong information and on the other side, voices of farmers are completely muzzled.”
Speaking on the curtailment of rights, Prasanth Sugathan, the legal director lawyer of Software Freedom Law Centre said, “Such preemptive blocking is illegal and amounts to prior restraint of speech. In most cases, the persons whose handles are blocked are not even served with a copy of the order.” and how the confidential process in the blocking rules of 2009 hinders those affected by it to seek recourse.
This is not the first time the government has issued such orders to media platforms. Many accounts faced blockade back in 2021 when the government proposed the contentious three farm bills which had caused a massive backlash. X had also prosecuted the government on orders of taking down content from their platform, but their plea was dismissed by the Karnataka High court.
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