Multiple accounts of farmer leaders were withheld on the X microblogging platform (formerly Twitter) on February 13, 2024. This occurred on the same day that farmers traveling from Punjab and Haryana towards Delhi were faced with tear-gas shell-dropping drones near the Shambhu border. As of 4 PM on February 14, the accounts remain withheld “in India in response to a legal demand,” as per the X disclaimer.
Farmers had planned a nationwide strike and organized a Delhi Chalo protest on February 16 to voice their demand for a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) and other assurances made by the ruling regime in its election manifesto. However, days before the strike, X accounts of farmer leaders like Sarvan Singh Pandher, coordinator of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) Tejveer Singh Ambala, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) or BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) spokesperson Ramandeep Singh Mann, Harpal Sangha, Ashok Danoda from Haryana, and many others were withheld. Another account, Tractor2Twitr_P, which was a vocal source of information regarding the farmer’s protest during the 2020-2021 period, has also been withheld.
Withholding goes against natural justice: With no details regarding the “legal demand” for the action, experts like Apar Gupta, Founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), have described the move as an attack on free speech online.
Comparing the current account withholding to similar actions during the farmer’s struggle period, Gupta said that the move to censure accounts then was a “clear breach of fundamental rights” that also revealed the complex relationship between the government and large platforms “in understanding the Constitution of India.”
However, the blocking order given on Tuesday was “issued in advance. This form of pre-censorship is without any transparency or natural justice,” said Gupta. Since the platform stopped sharing reports of external content takedown requests it receives with the Lumen database since April 15, 2022, Gupta asked the following questions regarding the withholding of accounts:
“The government, on its part, will not disclose or submit to accountability. Why block entire accounts in advance? Is the account itself illegal? It will not bother asking these questions, for fewer people will ask them today than two years ago. As its march towards total power becomes menacing, it commands greater levels of social compliance, either by discipline, despondency, or indoctrination. This is not surprising. What does provide anguish is the vile commentary against farmers on social media.”
Twitter was a reliable and timely medium for farmers during their protests in 2020-21.
They issued official press releases, documented police excesses, built community and sympathy for their cause with hashtags. It became a vital informational pipeline for farmers to convey…
— Apar (@apar1984) February 13, 2024
As for the reason for the withholding, the only information the platform provides is that “X was compelled to withhold the entire account specified (e.g., @username) in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order.” However, there is no further information on the specific nature of this demand. MediaNama reached out to Twitter with this query but received the auto-generated response “Busy now, please check back later.” With no official entity in the company to address these queries, the reason for the withholding remains unclear.
Also Read:
- Tamil Nadu Politician Seeman’s Twitter Account Withheld In India, But Not Clear Why
- Twitter Is No Longer Sharing Details Of Content Takedown Requests With Lumen Database
- Indian Gov Neither Shut Down Twitter Nor Raided Executives’ Homes During Farmers Protests: IT Ministry
- MEITY Instructs Twitter To Block Over 1,000 Accounts Related To Farmers Protest: Report
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