According to Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, India, despite its reputation as the world’s largest democracy, often requested the social media giant to remove specific messages and accounts, often accompanied by threats of legal ramifications in situations of noncompliance. “India is one of the countries that had several requests related to farmer demonstrations and certain journalists who were critical of the government,” Dorsey explained.

After the Indian government threatened legal action against the US-based social media business, Twitter was ordered to deactivate hundreds of accounts and limit the availability of specific hashtags in India in early 2021. The vast majority of accounts targeted for suspension had expressed support for farmers’ demonstrations against the newly proposed legislation.

The Indian government’s orders were “manifested in terms such as ‘we would shut down Twitter in India’… ‘we would raid the homes of your staff,’ which they did; ‘we will shut down your offices if you do not follow suit.” And this is India, a democratic country,” Dorsey told Breaking Points in an interview.

Twitter used to oppose government orders to erase posts or suspend accounts vehemently. In fact, the business famously fought the Indian government to challenge several of the block orders imposed on tweets and accounts. Twitter took longer than its US peers to comply with India’s newly imposed IT regulations. To manage local concerns, enterprises must nominate and disclose contact information for persons responsible for regulatory compliance, a nodal point of reference, and grievance redressal.

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