Twitter blocks hundreds of accounts tweeting farmers’ agitation

New Delhi: Twitter India on Monday blocked a few hundred accounts on its platform, most of whom were tweeting about the ongoing farmer agitation.

In a statement Twitter said it had done so after receiving a legal request from the government for the same.

The accounts, it is learnt, were taken down based on a request under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

“Many countries have laws that may apply to Tweets and/or Twitter account content. In our continuing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement further added that when Twitter receives requests to withhold content, it notifies the affected account holders, unless prohibited from doing so, such as if we receiving a court order under seal.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting at the borders of Delhi against recent farm laws, demanding a complete repeal.

According to sources, the content or hashtag did not violate Twitter’s terms of service, but the accounts were blocked in India because the request was sent under a provision of the law.

The accounts taken down include that of The Caravan, actor Sushant Singh, farmer organisation Kisan Ekta Morcha.