New Delhi: A day after the Narendra Modi government held talks with Twitter on a range of issues, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad Thursday warned that the micro-blogging site will have to abide by the country’s laws if it wants to operate in India.
“In the name of freedom of expression, intermediary platforms like Twitter, Facebook cannot encourage hatred, animosity, violence and porn. They can’t promote hashtags like ‘Modi massacre of farmers’ in India,” the minister said in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
He also hit out at Twitter for their “double standards” in treating the Capitol Hill violence in the US and the farmers’ protest in India.
“We have flagged the issue in the (Wednesday’s) meeting with them. Why is it that when police act in the US Capitol Hill, they stand in their support, but when similar police action is taken at Red Fort, they oppose it? This double standard will not work,” he said.
On a question about steps taken to curb fake news on social media, the minister told the Upper House: “We respect social media, it has empowered common people. We respect criticism. You can criticise even the prime minister, but if the social media is used to propagate hate then action will be taken.”
He added: “I have a message for all of you. Come, work in India, earn money, but you will have to follow India’s laws.”
During Wednesday’s meeting with Twitter’s vice-president of Global Public Policy Monique Meche and deputy general counsel and vice-president, legal, Jim Baker, IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney had flagged the issue of Twitter’s “differential treatment” with regard to the Capitol Hill incident and the Republic Day violence.
In a statement, the IT secretary also called the hashtag ‘#ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide’ “incendiary” and “baseless”, and said it was used to spread misinformation.
Sawhney said such actions are “neither journalistic freedom nor freedom of expression as envisaged under Article 19 of the Constitution of India”.
Also read: Koo, made-in-India app govt is using to respond to Twitter & ministers are logging on to
‘Revisiting social media guidelines with I&B ministry’
BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe asked Prasad that media organisations have their own rules to check fake news and provocative content, but if intermediary platforms claim themselves as media platforms, the Press Council Act and FDI rules can be implemented against them.
In response, Prasad said: “We are revisiting social media guidelines with Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.”
He said: “When you become a platform, you make your own law and India’s laws will have no place in it? That is not how it works. You bring money and do business, but you have to respect the law of the land.”
Prasad added: “Freedom is important, but (what about) showing revenge sex video, street fights, porn videos on social media? Revisit unbridled exposure of double standards of your own guidelines.”
Govt notice to Twitter
The hashtag ‘#ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide’ had prompted the government to send a notice to Twitter on 31 January, asking it to remove it.
The ministry had earlier asked Twitter to suspend 257 accounts, saying they were spreading misinformation about farmers’ agitation. Some of these accounts belonged to CPI leader Mohammed Salim, BKU (Ugrahan), activist Hansraj Meena, and Caravan magazine.
Twitter initially blocked some of these accounts, but later unblocked them.
On 4 February, the government sent a fresh list of nearly 1,200 accounts asking Twitter to either suspend or block them. These accounts, the government said, “were flagged by security agencies as Khalistan sympathisers or backed by Pakistan”.
On Wednesday, before the talks between Twitter and the government, the social media giant released a statement saying it has suspended more than 500 accounts and blocked access to several others based on a government order.
It, however, didn’t block accounts of journalists, activists and politicians saying it “would violate their fundamental right to free expression” guaranteed under the country’s law.
This didn’t go down well with the government and the IT minister even refused to attend the meeting with Twitter.
Also read: Twitter’s India policy head resigns, firm says ‘no link to govt warning’ over unblocking users