The government of India issued a notice to microblogging website Twitter and warned it of action for 'unilaterally' unblocking more than 250 accounts suspended earlier over the use of a hashtag regarding the farmers' protest.
In a notice issued late on Tuesday night (February 2), the ministry of electronics and information technology said that Twitter violated its order to block as many as 257 accounts that were seen to be associated with the protest.
"You are aware of the prevailing situation, which not only has the potential but has, in fact, resulted in a major public order issue on 26.01.2021. The statutory authorities are doing everything possible to ensure no adverse public order situation takes place and no cognizable offences are committed. In light of these developments and as a part of due process, and as per the settled practice, an order was passed," said the government, in its order.
The government said that the interim order was issued because hashtags and URLs on Twitter were spreading misinformation in regards to the farmers' protest and that it could lead to violence and affect public order in the country.
"The offending handles/hashtag was blocked only a few minutes before your advocate appeared before the committee, on 1.2.2021 at 3 pm. It is thus clear that, the offending tweets/hashtag remained in public domain and must have been tweeted and re-tweeted several times at the risk and cost of public order and at the risk of incitement to the commission of offences," the notice added.
The notice further said that Twitter was obliged to obey the order and its refusal could invite penal action against it.
Over the use of hashtag "ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide", Twitter had earlier blocked accounts that had made tweets in criticism of the government. It is reported that Twitter had withheld these accounts and hashtags temporarily but later told the government that they constituted free speech and unblocked related tweets and accounts.
