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Earlier in the week, much of the internet spoke about how several Twitter accounts and tweets were withheld by the social media platform. These accounts and tweets pertained to the support of the farmers regarding the ongoing farmers’ protests.
Soon enough, the accounts were restored by Twitter.
Continuing the concerted efforts to subdue the support shown, the Union government has “issued a notice to social media platform Twitter over ‘unilaterally unblocking’ several accounts like The Caravan, Kisan Ekta Morcha, and others that were earlier withheld,” as reported by The News Minute.
The notice also added that penal action will be taken against them if they do not comply –– implying somewhat of a ‘my way or the high way’ situation.
The Indian Express reported that a source from Twitter revealed: “During our subsequent meetings with the officials, Twitter conveyed that the accounts and Tweets in question constitute free speech and are newsworthy. Therefore, these Tweets and accounts have now been unwithheld. Protecting public conversation and Transparency is fundamental to the work we do at Twitter.” –––– Surprisingly, this very ‘free speech and newsworthy’ content is something that is not fitting with the country’s narrative.
The notice states that the content regarding several hashtags speaking of ‘farmers’ genocide’ has been “found to be instigating people to commit cognizable offences in relations to public order and security of the state.”
A deeper problem needs to be recognised when in a democracy, online support for a nationwide movement is as troublesome to the government as it is playing out to be. A situation such as this points to silencing voices of dissent –– voices that make a democracy, a democracy.
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