Indian government forces X to censor accounts via executive order amid farmers’ protest

X, formerly Twitter, is again restricting content in India. The company’s Global Government Affairs account announced that The Indian government issued an executive order obliging X to keep specific accounts and posts or face penalties such as “significant fines and imprisonment”. X further stated that he did not agree with the order and contested it.

Certain posts and accounts will be blocked only in India, but there is no clear list of those affected. “Due to legal restrictions, we cannot publish the executive orders, but we believe their release is essential for transparency,” the Global Government Affairs post said. “This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making.” X claims to have notified all affected parties.

The posts are likely to be centered around the ongoing farmers’ protest, which has seen multiple farmers’ unions strike since February 13 in an attempt to get minimum prices or a minimum support price for crops sold. Violent clashes between protesters and police have already left at least one person dead, AP news reports. Muhammad Zubair, Indian journalist and co-founder of Alt News, shared alleged screenshots of suspended accounts belonging to personalities critical of the current government, reporters on the ground, prominent farm unionists, etc.

This forced blockade is far from the first incident between X and India. In 2022, X sued the Indian government for “arbitrary and disproportionate” enforcement of its IT laws passed the previous year. The law requires the company to employ a point of contact for local authorities and an internal compliance officer. Prior to this concession, in early 2021, the Indian government threatened to jail X employees if posts about the then ongoing farmers’ protest remained active on the site. Shortly after, the country ordered X to remove content critical of its response to COVID-19.

India rejected X’s claim in June 2023, claiming the company had not properly explained why it had ever delayed complying with the country’s IT laws. The court also fined X 5 million rupiah ($60,300), saying: “You are not a farmer, but a billion-dollar company.” The order followed shortly after the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey claims that India threatened to raid the employees’ homes and shut down the site if the company had not taken down posts during the farmers’ protest.