Blocking A/cs: 'X' 'disagrees' with Centre

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: Social media platform X on Thursday stated that although it is complying with the Indian government’s orders to withhold some accounts and posts, it disagrees with the action.

The Centre had recently ordered the temporary blocking of around 177 social media accounts and web links related to the ongoing farmers’ protest, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.

The orders, issued on February 14 and February 19, were applicable to Facebook, Instagram, X, Snapchat and some other social media platforms.

The action puts the spotlight again on the struggles faced by foreign technology giants operating in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has often criticised Google, Facebook and X for not doing enough to tackle what it calls fake or “anti-India” content.

Many users have complained their social media accounts are either blocked or face restrictions in India, according to media reports.

Among those whose accounts were blocked were farmer leaders, including Sarvan Singh Pandher, Tejveer Singh Ambala, Ramandeep Singh Mann, Surjit Singh Phull and Harpal Sangha.

The X accounts of journalists Sandeep Singh and Mandeep Punia, who were reporting on the farmers’ protest, were also withheld.

On Thursday, the Global Government Affairs team of X stated that the social media platform maintains that “freedom of expression should extend to these posts”.

“Consistent with our position, a writ appeal challenging the Indian government's blocking orders remains pending,” it said.

“We have also provided the impacted users with notice of these actions in accordance with our policies.”

The team said it was unable to publish the government’s executive orders due to legal restrictions but believes that making them public is essential for transparency.