By Ajith Athrady
Expressing displeasure (click here) over delay in blocking accounts flagged by the government, Ministry of Electronics & IT Secretary Ajay Sawhney, told Twitter officials that it must follow the law of the land.
The Secretary held a virtual interaction with Twitter officials on Thursday night. He took this opportunity to remind the microblogging platform that India's constitution and laws are supreme in the country. It is expected that responsible entities not only reaffirm but remain committed to compliance to the law of land, Sawhney said, according to sources.
Earlier, Twitter had sought a meeting with the government after receiving the Ministry's notice to block over 1400 accounts. Twitter claimed that it has blocked 500 of those accounts and refused to block accounts of civil rights activists and media citing freedom of speech.
"Twitter is free to formulate its own rules and guidelines like any other business entity does, but Indian laws which are enacted by the Parliament of India must be followed irrespective of Twitter’s own rules and guidelines," the government told Twitter during a meeting.
Misuse of Twitter for the execution of campaigns designed to create disharmony and unrest in India is unacceptable, the Ministry said, adding that it must take strong action against such things through compliance with the applicable law of the land....
