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| The Indian government threatens to imprison Twitter employees |
The Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Narendra Modi), has warned the Twitter platform that it must comply with its order to remove inflammatory content or face a prison sentence.
After Twitter initially blocked Twitter, it issued a warning after Twitter deleted 257 accounts for criticizing the Modi government's protests against farmers.
Relevant reports came from opposition leaders in the government, investigative news website Caravan, critics, journalists, and other writers.
Some people use the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide to denote the controversial bill that farmers say will reduce their incomes and make them more dependent on business.
After the account was originally suspended, the Twitter platform reversed its decision saying the tweets represented freedom of expression and worthy of publication.
In response, the Department of Computer Science ordered the account to be banned and it said in a message to Twitter: Twitter is a middleman and is obligated to follow Indian government instructions. The refusal will be prosecuted.
The Informatics Department added that the term was used to insult, encourage, and create tension in society for reasons that are not based.
Investigation News website The Caravan did not use hashtags but said it was just doing its job.
Editor Vinod K. Jose: "We don't understand why the Indian government suddenly discovered that journalists should not talk about all aspects of this issue."
The Modi government has also been upset with Western celebrities, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, who shared their support in tweets.
Some of Modi's supporters criticized the tweets, including the Bollywood actress (Kangana Ranaut) who wrote: No one is talking about them because they are not farmers, but they are terrorists trying to divide the country.
This means that the Twitter platform will have to choose again to protect its employees and business interests, or accuse them of supporting the censorship system in a turbulent political situation.
However, since Indian IT law requires social media platforms to remove any information generated, sent, received, stored or hosted that may harm the public system, you may need to comply.