Twitter gets government notice for unblocking accounts related to farmer genocide hashtags

NEW DELHI: The government has sent a notice to Twitter, directing the microblogging site to comply with its order to remove contents and accounts related to farmer genocide hashtags. If Twitter did not comply with action, it may face penal action, according to sources.

Twitter refused to comment on this issue when this newspaper reached out to it.

Earlier, Twitter had blocked around 250 accounts, following an order from the Ministry of Electronics and IT. According to sources, Twitter had unilaterally unblocked accounts and tweets despite the specific order.

Twitter cannot justify non-compliance as it was an “intermediary” and was obliged to “obey” direction of government, sources added.

The government notice also quoted over half a dozen Supreme Court judgments including of constitutional benches as to what is public order and what the rights of authorities are.

The MeiTY had directed Twitter to block accounts on the request of the MHA and law enforcement agencies to prevent any “escalation of law and order” in view of the ongoing farmer agitation, according to an earlier order.

Twitter had temporarily suspended the accounts citing it was in response to a “legal demand”.

However, the account holders had said there was no intimation from Twitter before the accounts were blocked.

“Incitement to genocide is a grave threat to public order and therefore the Ministry of Electronics and I-T ordered for blocking of these accounts and tweets under Section 6A of the I-T Act,” said the order, adding that several accounts were using the hashtag of ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, and were making “fake and provocative” tweets.

In a strongly-worded notice to Twitter, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said it had on January 31 asked the micro-blogging site to block 257 URLs (web addresses) and one hashtag under the relevant provision of the law as they were “spreading misinformation about (farmer) protests and has the potential to lead to imminent violence affecting public order situation in the country.”

“Twitter chose to sit over the request for one full day before blocking them, only to unblock them a few hours later.  This was not taken kindly by the government and a fresh order/notice has been issued to Twitter to comply, failing which penal action under sections that provide for fine and jail up to 7 years has been warned,” sources with direct knowledge of the development said.

Section 69A of the Information Technology Act gives the central government powers to direct an intermediary like Twitter to “block for access for the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted” in any computer if it is “satisfied that the same is necessary or expedient in order to prevent incitement” of any offence, the notice said.

The accounts that were blocked – and then restored – included those of news magazine Caravan, Kisan Ekta Morcha, tribal leader Hansraj Meena, and actor Sushant Singh.

According to Twitter, it held meetings with government officials and conveyed that the accounts and posts in question constitute free speech and are newsworthy.

The company then “unwithheld” the accounts to protect public conversation.

The other accounts that were initially withheld included those of CPM politician Mohd Salim, farm organisation BKU Ekta Ugrahan and Tractor2Twitter.

The move was criticised by politicians and civil rights activists.

On Twitter’s plea of such blocking impacting freedom of speech, the notice said Twitter has no constitutional, statutory or any legal basis to comment upon the interplay of statutory provisions with constitutional principles.

“The direction to block the hashtag ‘#ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide’ has been found to be instigating people to commit cognizable offences in relation to public order and security of the state,” it said adding the impracticability or disproportionality of the said measure cannot be decided by an intermediary which is bound by the orders of the central government.

It sought banning of the hashtag accompanied by the content that is attached to it by the users using the same.