Social media platforms should follow Indian laws: Ravi Shankar Prasad

NEW DELHI: The government has taken note of Twitter’s commitment to adhere to the Constitution and laws of India in dealing with controversial handles, which the Centre has sought to be blocked on the ground that these have been posting “patently offensive tweets designed to foment unrest and strife”.

The assurance was conveyed to the Indian side by two senior Twitter executives, Monique Meche and Jim Baker, on Wednesday at a meeting arranged at the behest of micro blogging giant to resolve the dispute over the government’s insistence on blocking of certain accounts using hashtag related to ‘farmer genocide’ and handles supported by Khalistan sympathizers and backed by Pakistan, designed to foment unrest and strife.

Top sources in the government said that during the meeting, Indian authorities had in no uncertain terms said that Twitter will have to follow the Constitution and the law of the land.

In a statement issued late Wednesday evening, the government said that union IT secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney had made it clear that the social media platform was according differential treatment to the violence on Capitol Hill on January 6 and the incidents at Red Fort on January 26.

“A deep sense of disappointment at seeing Twitter side not with ‘freedom of expression’ but rather with those who seek to abuse such freedom and provoke disturbance to public order, was conveyed to the Twitter representative,” the statement said, adding that the government also flagged its concern over the micro-blogging site allowing “fake, unverified, anonymous and automated bot accounts” to be operate on the platform.

During the discussions on Wednesday government pressed for the deletion of “patently offensive” twitter handles specifically designed to foment unrest and strife in India.

At the same time, the government also noted Twitter’s commitment towards following Indian laws and rules.

The government’s concerns were amplified by communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. “We respect social media a lot, it has empowered common people. Social media has a big role in Digital India programme. However, if social media is misused to spread fake news, violence then action will be taken,” Prasad said.

“Today I want to clearly state that be it Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp they are free to work in India but they need to abide by the Constitution of India and laws of India,” the minister said in the Rajya Sabha.

Following the use of the controversial hashtag, the government had asked Twitter to act against 257 handles and followed it up with a request to address its concerns related to another 1,200-odd accounts that were allegedly backed by supporters of Khalistan or Pakistan. The social media giant is yet to comply with the government’s order.