New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday condemned the assertion issued by Twitter as completely baseless, false and an try to defame India to cover their very own follies and requested the micro-blogging platform to cease beating across the bush and adjust to the legal guidelines of the land.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in an announcement mentioned the federal government “strongly controverts the claims made by Twitter today in its press release”.
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The authorities mentioned regulation making and coverage formulations is the only prerogative of the sovereign, including Twitter is only a social media platform and it has no locus in dictating what ought to India’s authorized coverage framework ought to be.
Asserting India has an excellent custom of free speech and democratic practices courting again centuries, the federal government mentioned: “Protecting free speech in India is not the prerogative of only a private, for-profit, foreign entity like Twitter, but it is the commitment of the world’s largest democracy and its robust institutions.”
The authorities mentioned Twitter’s assertion is an try to dictate its phrases to the world’s largest democracy.
“Through its actions and deliberate defiance, Twitter seeks to undermine India’s legal system. Furthermore, Twitter refuses to comply with those very regulations in the Intermediary Guidelines on the basis of which it is claiming a safe harbour protection from any criminal liability in India,” the federal government added.
Questioning if Twitter is so dedicated then why it didn’t arrange such a mechanism in India by itself, the federal government identified that the Twitter representatives in India routinely declare that they haven’t any authority and that they and the folks of India have to escalate all the pieces to the Twitter Headquarter within the United States.
“The purported commitment of Twitter, to its Indian user base, thus not only sounds hollow but completely self-serving,” the federal government mentioned.
Launching a vitriolic assault, the federal government mentioned Twitter earns vital income from its Indian operations courtesy a big consumer base in India however can also be the “most reluctant to appoint an India based grievance redressal officer and mechanism, chief compliance officer and nodal officer to whom its own users can complain, when they are subjected to offensive Tweets”.
In an obvious reference to the ‘toolkit’ row, the federal government mentioned the principles empower the bizarre customers who change into victims of defamation, morphed pictures, sexual abuse and the entire vary of different abusive content material in blatant violation of regulation to hunt redress.
“These rules were finalized after widest possible consultations including with representatives of social media platforms. Ministry of Electronics and IT put the draft Rules in public domain and invited public comments. The Ministry received large number of comments from individuals, civil society, industry associations and organizations. A significant number of counter comments to these comments were also received,” the federal government mentioned.
“There are also various judicial orders by various courts including the Supreme Court of India directing the Government to take appropriate steps. There are also several Parliamentary debates and recommendations to take appropriate measures,” the federal government added.
Stating that freedom of speech and expression is a basic proper below the Indian Constitution, the ministry mentioned the Government of India respects the fitting of individuals to ask questions and likewise criticize on these social media platforms, together with on Twitter.
“The government equally respects the right of privacy. However, the only instance of scuttling free speech on Twitter is Twitter itself and its opaque policies, as a result of which people’s accounts are suspended and tweets deleted arbitrarily without recourse,” the ministry added.
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Taking a jibe at Twitter over its claims that it’s dedicated to the folks of India, the federal government mentioned, mockingly, this dedication of Twitter has been most invisible in latest occasions and shared some latest examples to justify its assertion.
The authorities drew consideration to the truth that Twitter selected to indicate the geo-location of sure areas in Union Territory of Ladakh as a part of People’s Republic of China at a time when India and China have been engaged in peaceable decision of border associated points by bilateral dialogue.
“Twitter took several days, that too only after repeated reminders, to rectify this blatant disrespect to India’s sensitivity and territorial integrity,” the federal government added.
Continuing its outburst, the federal government mentioned Twitter selected to take suo-moto motion in opposition to these customers who it thought-about as perpetrators of violence on the Capitol Hill within the USA.
“But, just a few days after the unlawful incidents on Red Fort in Delhi, Twitter refused to take prompt action on the lawful request made by the Government of India to block contents that sought to incite violence on the pretext of a fake genocide plan. Later, it chose to comply, that too partially, when the damage had been done,” the federal government added.
The Centre additional mentioned Twitter’s lack of duty has led to rampant proliferation of faux and dangerous content material in opposition to India and the Indians.
“Promoting vaccine hesitancy has been rampantly done through the use of Twitter platform and yet Twitter has taken no action. Is this commitment to the people of India?” the federal government requested.
Highlighting that discriminatory conduct has been practiced in opposition to Indians and the folks of Indian origin due to malicious tagging of B.1.617 mutant as ‘Indian variant’ title regardless of strict WHO pointers in opposition to it, the federal government mentioned: “Again, Twitter has taken no action against such fake narratives and Tweets while grandiosely claiming to serve the people of India.”
Throwing gentle on the communique from Twitter Inc., which states that it seeks “constructive dialogue”, “collaborative approach” from the federal government of a sovereign democratic republic to “safeguard interests of the public”, the Centre mentioned it’s time that Twitter disabuses itself of this grandiosity and adjust to the legal guidelines of India.
The authorities additionally emphatically assured the representatives of social media firms, together with Twitter, that they “are and will always remain safe in India and there is no threat to their personal safety and security”.
Condemning the “unfortunate statement issued by Twitter as totally baseless, false and an attempt to defame India to hide their own follies”, the federal government additional mentioned the Delhi Police has additionally issued an in depth press launch, pertaining to an ongoing investigation, which reply the utterly baseless allegations raised.
