Microblogging site Twitter reached out to Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for a formal dialogue over the concerns related to the social media site. Twitter however said, that the “safety of our employees is a top priority”. This reaction comes after the Indian government asked Twitter to remove about 1,178 twitter accounts which are said to be linked with Pakistan. The government alleged that these accounts are spreading fake information and provocative content on farmers’ protests.
“Safety of our employees is a top priority for us at Twitter. We continue to be engaged with the Government of India from a position of respect and have reached out to the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for a formal dialogue,” said the spokesperson of Twitter.
The spokesperson also told that they have acknowledged the non-compliance notice from the Indian government. “We strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact, and that the Tweets must continue to flow,” said the spokesperson in his latest statement.
The US site also said that they take immediate actions on such reports but with complying to their “fundamental values and commitment to protecting the public conversation”.
Before seeking to block these 1,178 handles the government has also sought to block 257 handles and several tweets to be blocked from the platform. However, the Twitter blocked those handles as per the order but later unblocked shorty after blocking them.
The IT ministry shared the list of these accounts on February 4 as per the findings of the security agencies. The accounts were said to be linked from Pakistan and Khalistan which were threatening the public order between the farmers’ protests in the Country.
According to a source, “Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative contents on farmers’ protests”.
Although the actions of Twitter CEO and the platform as a whole are raising several questions as a few days ago the Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had liked several tweets made by the international celebrities who tweeted in the favour of farmers’ protests and now the non-compliance of the platform on the government orders.
After US and Japan, India is the third in the list of having the highest number of users which include Politicians, actors-actresses, sports personalities and many more.
