X has blocked multiple accounts and posts related to farmers and the ongoing farmer protests in India after an executive order from the central government, the social media company said on February 22.
The firm said that it disagrees with the order as it restricts freedom of expression, even though complying was necessary to avoid fines and imprisonment of its officials in the country. It added that a writ petition challenging the government's blocking order is pending in court.
“The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment. In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone,” X said in a post on X through its Global Government Affairs handle.
Users whose accounts have been blocked have been notified, the firm said while adding that it chose to make the executive order public as it wants to be more transparent with its users.
“Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency. This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making,” the firm said.
On Monday, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) issued an emergency blocking order under Section 69A of the IT Act against 177 accounts and posts linked to farmer protests at the behest of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to maintain public order.
Similar orders were issued to block accounts on other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.
Thousands of farmers are currently camping on the borders of Punjab and Haryana with the Delhi NCR region demanding a law to ensure minimum support price (MSP) for 23 crops and waiver of farmer loans.
Nearly half of farmers in India are under debt while their average monthly income was as low as ₹10,218 in 2019 in some of the states, according to a 2019 survey by National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO).
Farmers are also seeking compensation for farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021. Four farmers were reportedly killed and more than 10 injured in Lakhimpur Kheri during a previous farmer protest against the three farm laws which were later withdrawn by the central government.
Lawyers and legal experts have slammed the government order to block accounts of farmers without any cause in the name of public order.
“Blocking orders for Twitter accounts of farm leaders have been issued in advance. This form of pre-censorship is without any transparency or natural justice,” said Apar Gupta, a privacy advocate and founder of Internet Freedom Foundation, in a post on X.
Gupta also called the order a violation of farmers’ fundamental right to protest.
The government of India introduced the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 in February 2021 to make intermediaries, particularly social media platforms, more accountable and compliant.
The guidelines require social media platforms to take down any content deemed unlawful within 36 hours of receiving a court or government order. Non-compliant platforms were warned that they could lose their safe harbor protection, which protects them from legal action for user generated content.
In 2021, then-Twitter, refused to take down over 1,100 accounts belonging to individual farmers and advocacy groups supporting the protests against the proposed farm bill. Twitter later filed a petition in Karnataka High Court to overturn takedown requests by the Indian government, arguing that some of the orders did not meet the requirements of the IT Act. The petition, however, was dismissed by the court in June 2023.
X’s new owner Elon Musk, who acquired the social media company in October 2022 for $44 billion, has been a strong advocate of freedom of expression on social media.
His unwillingness to block content, deemed harmful by many, has sparked criticism from diverse groups, including activists, lawmakers, and major corporations. The backlash has also led to an exodus of advertisers, creating a significant dent in the platform’s revenue stream.