What's the news: Twitter is reviewing its contentious policy around permanently banning users and is looking for other moderation options to replace it, Financial Times reported on October 12. Currently, Twitter enforces permanent bans on users who have violated its rules “in a particularly egregious way” or have “repeatedly violated them even after receiving notifications from us," the report stated. "Our core tenets — choice and control, transparency, legitimacy, and fairness — have been guiding our work for years, and as the public conversation continues to evolve, our approach will too," a Twitter spokesperson told Reuters. Why does this matter: Twitter's permanent ban policy has been criticised for being excessive and going against the idea of free speech that democratic countries like the US and India constitutionally guarantee. For example, Republicans in the US feel that they are disproportionally targeted by the ban and the Indian government believes that deplatforming users by a platform violate their fundamental rights. But it's not going to be a free pass to users: "But any change is unlikely to pave the way for a return to the platform for Donald Trump, two of the people said, as removing bans for breaching of its policy against inciting violence is not under consideration. [...] Instead, staffers are looking at areas where they feel Twitter may have been disproportionately heavy-handed in cutting off users from its services for lesser offences, such as around the sharing of misleading information," Financial Times reported. What are the Indian government's views: In the past, Indian politicians…
