The war between Twitter and the Indian government increased on Wednesday after the IT Ministry went to the desi Twitter-like app/site called "Koo" to reply to Jack Dorsey-led platform, saying this is unusual for the micro-blogging platform to release a blog post over the removal of several accounts related to farmers' protests.
Twitter on Wednesday said that it has taken a range of enforcement actions, including permanent suspension in certain cases, against more than 500 accounts escalated across orders from the Indian government for clear violation of its rules.
However, the company said that it does not believe that the actions it has been directed to take by the IT Ministry are consistent with Indian law.
Also read: Explainer: All you need to know about #KooApp, India's alternative to Twitter
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), in a post published on Koo, replied: "Upon the request of Twitter seeking a meeting with the Govt., the Secretary IT was to engage with senior management of Twitter. In this light a blog post published prior to this engagement is unusual. Govt. will share its response soon".
Twitter has been served with several separate blocking orders by MeitY under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
Twitter in their reply said, "After we communicated this to MeitY, we were served with a non-compliance notice.”
Also read: Tweet for tat: Action against 500 accounts in India, says Twitter
The company in its blog said, “We have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists and politicians. To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.”
The company, facing penal action if does not comply with the directions given by the IT Ministry in three notices to block a total of 1,435 accounts in questions in the wake of the farmers' protests, said that it has withheld a portion of the accounts identified in the blocking orders under its 'Country Withheld Content' policy within India only. These accounts, however, will continue to be available outside of India.
Meanwhile, Koo is making a buzz on all social media platforms. The Koo app launched some 10 months ago also won the Aatmanirbhar App Challenge organised by the Centre.
(With inputs from IANS)
