Secretary Of Indian IT Ministry Meets With Twitter Team Amid Row On Farmer Rallies Content

Secretary of Indian IT Ministry Meets With Twitter Team Amid Row on Farmer Rallies Content

Ajay Sawhney, the secretary of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology held an online meeting with representatives of Twitter on Wednesday to resolve issues over content related to farmer rallies recently held in New Delhi, the ministry said

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2021) Ajay Sawhney, the secretary of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology held an online meeting with representatives of Twitter on Wednesday to resolve issues over content related to farmer rallies recently held in New Delhi, the ministry said.

On Monday, India demanded that Twitter remove over 1,100 accounts linked to the January 26 Delhi protests and to the Khalistan separatist movement. Last week, sources told Sputnik that security measures had been stepped up at government and diplomatic buildings in New Delhi in light of intelligence suggesting that the Khalistan movement might be behind the violence during the farmer rallies.

Initially, the Indian minister of communications, electronics and information technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, was supposed to meet with Twitter representatives, but sources told Sputnik that the minister declined the meeting.

"On the request of Twitter, Secretary Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India held a virtual interaction with Ms. Monique Meche, Vice President Global Public Policy and Mr. Jim Baker Deputy General Counsel and Vice President Legal," the ministry said.

According to the press release, Sawhney told the Twitter representatives that India values freedom of expression but it is not absolute and is "subject to reasonable restrictions." The secretary highlighted that the social networking service is welcome to do business in India and "must also respect the Indian laws."

"Secretary took up the issue of using a hashtag on 'farmer genocide' with Twitter executives and expressed strong displeasure on the way Twitter acted after an emergency order was issued to remove this hashtag and content related to that. Spreading misinformation using an incendiary and baseless hashtag referring to 'farmer genocide' at a time when such irresponsible content can provoke and inflame the situation is neither journalistic freedom nor freedom of expression as envisaged under Article 19 of the Constitution of India," the ministry said.

Sawhney also drew parallels between the protest at the Red Fort in New Delhi and US Capitol Hill riots in early January and "reminded Twitter" about its actions after the demonstration in Washington. Following the riot in the US, Twitter banned the account of former US President Donald Trump.

"Lawfully passed orders are binding on any business entity. They must be obeyed immediately. If they are executed days later, it becomes meaningless. Secretary expressed his deep disappointment to Twitter leadership about the manner in which Twitter has unwillingly, grudgingly and with great delay complied with the substantial parts of the order. He took this opportunity to remind Twitter that in India, its Constitution and laws are supreme," the ministry added.

Twitter has sought a meeting with Prasad over its employees' safety concerns, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, a number of senior Indian officials, including the IT minister, have moved to the Koo App platform, the Indian version of Twitter.

On January 26, Indian farmers, angered with new laws in the agriculture industry, attempted to storm New Delhi during the celebrations marking the 72nd Republic Day. The move eventually turned into violent clashes with law enforcement officers, resulting in at least one farmer's death and several security troops injured.