Twitter on Thursday denounced the new Indian regulations to which players in the tech sector must now comply, worrying about “intimidation tactics” by the police.
Twitter “is concerned about the use of intimidation tactics by the police with regard to the application of (its) terms of service,” said a spokesperson for the American social network in an email to the ‘AFP.
On Monday, police visited Twitter’s offices in New Delhi as part of an investigation into the social network’s decision to stamp a tweet from a spokesperson for BJP, the ruling Hindu nationalist party, “media manipulated”.
BJP spokesman Sambit Patra had released a document he presented as a draft of the opposition party Congress to denigrate government management of the health crisis. According to Congress, the document was a fake.
The new regulations, which came into force on Wednesday, come amid heightened tensions between social media giants, like Twitter and Whatsapp, and the Indian government, which is demanding they remove some content.
“We are concerned about the recent events for our employees in India and the potential threat to the free speech of the people we serve,” the Twitter spokesperson continued in his statement.
Twitter was also worried about being required, under the new regulations, to appoint a compliance officer who would then be criminally responsible for the content. The platform requires at least three additional months to become compliant.
“(Just) as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to resonate with every voice on the network, and to protect freedom of expression and privacy within the framework of the rule of law “, underlined the spokesperson.
On Wednesday, Whatsapp, the Facebook subsidiary, had launched a lawsuit with the High Court of Delhi to prevent the application of this regulation which goes against its guarantees of confidentiality.
In particular, the messaging system opposes the government’s request for “traceability”, which requires social networks to provide details of the “first author” of messages when the Indian authorities believe they are undermining sovereignty of India, state security or public order.
The government fully recognizes and respects the right to privacy and the new regulations aim only to prevent “abuse and misuse of social networks,” Indian Minister of Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said Thursday.
“(The) government welcomes criticism, including the right to ask questions. The rules only strengthen the power of ordinary social media users when they are victims of abuse and misuse,” he said. he argued on Twitter.
ash-stu / lth / oaa
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