We withheld portion of accounts identified in blocking orders by Indian govt: Twitter

As per the order of the Indian government, Twitter had blocked over 1100 accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation over the farmers' protests, which is going on in and around the national capital for over 70 days. 

Listing the actions taken against the accounts, Twitter in its fresh statement in a blog said, "We took steps to reduce the visibility of the hashtags containing harmful content, which included prohibiting them from trending on Twitter and appearing as recommended search terms.

"We took a range of enforcement actions — including permanent suspension in certain cases — against more than 500 accounts escalated across all MeitY orders for clear violations of Twitter’s Rules.

"Separately, today, we have withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders under our Country Withheld Content policy within India only. These accounts continue to be available outside of India." 

Listing the reasons for blocking accounts following the Republic Day violence in Delhi, Twitter said, "Took action on hundreds of accounts that violated the Twitter Rules, particularly inciting violence, abuse, wishes of harm, and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm.

"Prevented certain terms that violated our Rules from appearing in the Trends section.

"Suspended more than 500 accounts that were engaging in clear examples of platform manipulation and spam.

"Tackled misinformation based on the highest potential for real-world harm, and prioritized labeling of Tweets that were in violation of our synthetic and manipulated media policy."

In the same line, the US social media giant in its statement highlighted the freedom of speech saying, "We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve. We are exploring options under Indian law — both for Twitter and for the accounts that have been impacted.

"We remain committed to safeguarding the health of the conversation occurring on Twitter, and strongly believe that the Tweets should flow."

One farmer was killed and more than 100 police personnel were injured during the tractor rally by the farmers, who are protesting against the Centre's agricultural reforms for over 70 days, on the country's Republic Day on Jan 26.