Twitter is 'concerned' about 'potential threat to freedom of expression' in India

Three days after the Delhi police visited Twitter’s office in New Delhi to serve a “notice” related to tweets flagged as “manipulated media,” the social media company expressed concern for its employees in India and the potential threat of freedom of expression in the country.

"Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve," a spokesperson for Twitter said. “We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global terms of service, as well as with core elements of the new IT rules.”

Twitter further said that while it strives to comply with applicable law in the country, it plans to advocate for changes to elements of the new IT rules that inhibit free, open conversation. “We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government and believe it is critical to adopt a collaborative approach.”

The tweets flagged as "manipulated media" had been put out by BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, and had alleged that the Congress was purportedly using a "toolkit" to exploit the pandemic to tarnish Modi's image. Subsequently, the police paid a call to Twitter's office.

Meanwhile, the new IT rules came into effect yesterday. On Tuesday, WhatsApp filed a legal complaint against the Indian government seeking to block regulations of the new IT rules.

Google, however, has said that it is committed to comply with the IT rules.

“We engage and explain to everyone the importance of information, promoting [the] free flow of information, but do want to respect legislative processes in democratic countries,” Economic Times quoted Google CEO Sundar Pichai as saying. “And to the extent there are requests [for information on users] we comply with and we will include that in our transparency reports. It is a framework with which we will operate it around the world.”

Digital news organisations have already challenged the new IT rules. In February, DigiPub News India Foundation wrote to I&B minister Prakash Javadekar and electronics and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, arguing that the rules give the government vast power that run counter to the principle of freedom of expression enshrined in the Indian constitution.