The US company’s attempt to judicially review the orders is part of a growing conflict with New Delhi.
Twitter has been asked by authorities in India to act on content over the past year, including tweets allegedly spreading misinformation about protests by farmers and critical of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Responding to Twitter’s move to demand judicial review against India’s order, the government said all social media firms are bound to comply with the laws of the country and it will hold them accountable for their content.
Vaishnav said, “The accountability of social media has become a legitimate question globally. It is important to hold it accountable, which will start with self-regulation first, then industry regulation, then government regulation…”.
He said that the Internet on mobile phones and social media platforms has brought powerful and transformative changes, but it must come with the realization of responsibilities.
The Minister further emphasized that there is a need to make social media and the digital world more accountable.
About Twitter doing legal review of Indian orders, Vaishnav said: “Whether it is a company, in any field, they must abide by the laws of India. It is everyone’s responsibility to follow the laws passed by Parliament. ”
In a tweet, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Rajiv Chandrashekhar said: “All foreign intermediaries and platforms have the right to approach court and judicial review in India. But, they also have an explicit obligation to comply . law.”
#TuesdayMusing In India, all foreign internet intermediaries/platforms have the right of court and judicial review… https://t.co/DB3lg5qaVS
— Rajeev Chandrashekhar (@Rajiv_GoI) 1657025053000
The government has previously said that large social media firms, including Twitter, have not complied with requests for removal, despite their legal status.
Late last month, Twitter was warned of criminal action by the IT ministry for non-compliance with certain orders. Twitter complied this week, the source said, so as not to lose the liability waiver available as hosting the content.
In a filing with the top court in Karnataka, Twitter argued that some of the eviction orders fell short of the procedural requirements of India’s IT Act, the source said, without specifying which ones it wanted to review.
The IT Act allows the government to block public access to content in the interest of national security, among other reasons.
Twitter, which market research firms say has about 24 million users in India, also argued in its filing that some of the orders failed to give notice to the authors of the content.
The source said that it was said that some were related to political content posted by official handles of political parties, blocking of which is a violation of freedom of expression.
Tensions between Twitter and the government escalated early last year when the former refused to fully comply with an order to remove accounts and posts that New Delhi alleged were being used as anti-government campaigns by farmers. They were spreading misinformation about the demonstrations.
The company has also been under police scrutiny in India and last year several government ministers moved to the home-grown platform Ku, alleging non-compliance with local laws.
Twitter has also faced a backlash in India for blocking the accounts of influential individuals, including politicians, citing violations of its policies.
India, which has one of the highest government requests to remove content, shows the Industry Transparency Report, is considering some amendments to its new IT rules with the power to reverse the content moderation decisions of social media firms by the government. Including the introduction of a powered appeals panel. ,
New Delhi has said such measures were needed as the companies violated constitutional rights.