Anti-India Twitter crackdown escalates; Centre wants 1178 Pak-Khalistan handles taken down

The Centre has directed Twitter to remove 1178 Pakistani-Khalistani accounts spreading misinformation and provocative content around farmers' protest, news agency ANI quoting sources reported on Monday. The social media firm is yet to completely comply with orders, it added.

This comes days after the government directed Twitter to comply with its order to remove contents/accounts related to farmer genocide hashtags and warned that the microblogging platform may face "penal action" for non-compliance of its order. PTI quoting government sources said that Twitter had unilaterally unblocked accounts and tweets despite specific order for blocking.

Twitter is an ‘intermediary' and is obliged to obey the direction of the government, sources said, adding that the platform may face penal action for not complying with government orders.

Government notice quoted more than half a dozen Supreme Court judgments including constitutional benches as to what is public order and what the rights of authorities are. IT ministry sources asserted that Twitter cannot assume the role of the court and justify non-compliance.

YouTube pulls down songs on farm protest

Meanwhile, several music videos related to the ongoing farmers' protest have been removed from the Internet. According to media reports, 'Ailaan', by Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal and Himmat Sandhu’s 'Asi Vaddange' were taken down from YouTube after legal complaints were reportedly filed against the videos by the Government of India. According to The Tribune, BKU Ekta Ugrahan state secretary Shingara Singh Mann condemned the move saying the government can remove the songs from YouTube but it cannot erase these songs from the hearts of the people.

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday had said that there was a reason why MEA reacted to the remarks of some celebrities in relation to protest by farmer unions and noted that they spoke, "on matters on which they obviously didn't know very much". The Minister told ANI that 'toolkit' case, which is being probed by police, has revealed a lot.

"I think it has revealed a lot. We have to wait and see what comes out. You can see there was a reason why the foreign ministry reacted to the statements which some celebrities gave out on matters on which they obviously didn't know very much," Jaishankar said.

Delhi Police on Friday wrote a letter to Google seeking registration details and activity log of the account through which a "toolkit" related to the farmers' protest was created and uploaded on the social media platform. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg had last week posted the "toolkit" in a tweet which she later deleted.

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(With agency inputs)