Twitter takedown request not for criticism but fake news: Govt sources

While Medianama reported that Twitter complied with govt requests and censored 52 tweets, the posts have been withheld in India only

Twitter India's compliance of takedown requests for tweets that allegedly criticised the government's handling of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a discussion point through the weekend. Government sources, however, said these tweets were spreading misinformation and using old images to amplify the current wave of the pandemic.

Medianama reported on Saturday that Twitter complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets, including posts by Member of Parliament Revanth Reddy, West Bengal minister Moloy Ghatak, actor Vineet Kumar Singh and filmmakers Vinod Kapri and Avinash Das.

Twitter made a public disclosure about the legal requests to the Lumen Database, which publishes disclosures from private entities, including social media companies, of legal takedown notices they get from governments and private entities all over the world, the digital policy web portal reported. 

However, these tweets have been withheld in India only. Twitter has a Policy under which it can withhold certain content in a specific country, preventing the content from being visible in that country only. These will be visible outside the country.

The Indian government sent the legal requests to Twitter on Thursday and Friday under the Information Technology Act.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, whose tweets were also taken down as part of the action, sent a legal notice to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and its minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday. Khera tweeted a copy of the legal notice. 

In his tweet, which is no longer available, Khera had questioned "double standards" of the government on allowing mass gatherings like Kumbh Mela at a time when a deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic grips the country, while on the other hand, a similar gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat last year, with much fewer people, was blamed for spreading the virus. 

The Twitter users whose tweets were taken down were notified so that they’re aware that the action has been taken in response to a legal request from the Government of India, according to sources.

In response to a query about the takedown orders, a Twitter spokesperson said, "When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law. If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only. In all cases, we notify the account holder directly so they’re aware that we’ve received a legal order pertaining to the account. We notify the user(s) by sending a message to the email address associated with the account(s), if available. Read more about our Legal request FAQs.  The legal requests that we receive are detailed in the biannual Twitter Transparency Report, and requests to withhold content are published on Lumen."

However, government sources said the content removed was either part of a coordinated misinformation campaign against Covid-19 or used old or unrelated visuals to amplify the current Covid-19 situation.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the recommendation of Ministry of Home Affairs asked social media platforms to remove around 100 posts or URLs. This decision has been taken to prevent obstructions in fight against the pandemic and escalation of public order due to these posts, they added.