The dispute between India and Twitter is deepening. This dispute is about the new IT rules. Which Twitter has refused to accept. According to the new IT rules, Twitter was to appoint three officers in India. Apart from this, the Government of India had instructed the companies to decrypt the messages sent by the people. Apart from this, the government could also direct to delete or delete any tweet. Which social media companies will have to remove within 24 hours. But Twitter has refused to accept this order.
Twitter says that due to these new IT rules, people’s freedom will be affected. And there is an attack on the expression of the people. Twitter says that it follows its guidelines. In which all people get a chance to express their views in the same way. However, the Indian government said that this is an attack on India’s IT sovereignty. But still Twitter has refused to accept the new rules.
Can the Indian government ban Twitter?
Talking to news agency ANI today, India’s IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that we are not in favor of banning Twitter. We gave Twitter a lot of opportunities to adapt to the new IT rules. But even then they have deliberately not followed the new rules.
Ravi Shankar Prasad says that we respect the freedom of expression of the people. And assure people that their freedom of expression will not be affected. We welcome criticism of the government. But foreign IT companies will have to obey the laws of India.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that we want to assure the people that we will fall only among those
In which there is information about terrorist activities and riots and which disturb the peace system of India. However, so far there is no information about how the government will use the right to read the message. And whether any mechanism has been made for this or not.
Recently, tweets criticizing the government were asked to be deleted by the Indian government. In such a situation, experts are expecting that due to the new IT rules, people’s freedom of expression may also be affected. Recently, Indian government’s IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also admitted that the government had instructed Twitter to delete critical tweets. Apart from this, the Government of India had also asked to suspend the Twitter account of a famous cartoonist of India. However, Twitter did not accept this instruction of the government.
Giving examples, he said that when Indian IT companies do business in America or any other country, they follow the IT rules there. In such a situation, foreign IT companies will also have to follow the laws of India. However, he did not explicitly say whether Twitter can be banned or not. He only said that the government is not in favor of banning Twitter.
On the other hand, when Ravi Shankar Prasad was asked whether the intermediate status of Twitter has been taken away or not? In response, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that we have not taken away the intermediate status from Twitter. Rather, due to not following the new IT rules, this order has come into force automatically.
Let us tell you for information that if any person posts anything on social media under intermediate status, then social media companies are not responsible for that. But due to non-compliance with the new IT rules, intermediate status is taken away from social media companies. And the same thing happened with Twitter.
Now if any person makes an objectionable post on Twitter, then Twitter will be responsible for it. And action can also be taken against him.
Two FIRs have been registered on Twitter after the Intermediate status was stripped. Recently, in the case of mob lynching, an FIR has been registered by Uttar Pradesh Police on Twitter. At the same time, the Chief Officer of Twitter India was questioned on 31 May in the Congress Toolkit case. For information, let us tell you that in the toolkit case, Twitter had termed the tweet of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as ‘manipulated content’. After which this controversy escalated further.
trade with america
Experts say that the Indian government is not in a position to ban Twitter at the moment. And the biggest reason for this is being told about the trade between India and America. The US is one of India’s largest trading partners. At the same time, India is present as a beneficial side in the trade between America and India. In such a situation, the Indian government will ban Twitter. There doesn’t seem to be any such possibility.
Due to the Great Depression of Coronavirus, India’s exports have reached the lowest level at this time. At the same time, the fiscal deficit of the Government of India has also reached its highest level. Inflation has already increased tremendously in India due to the rising prices of petrol and diesel. In such a situation, there is no hope that the Government of India will take any action against Twitter.
Recently India imposed 2% digital tax on social media companies. Due to which US President Joe Biden was told wrong and in response to this an additional tax of $ 40 billion has been imposed on Indian goods.
In such a situation, if India can ban companies like Twitter, then America can also retaliate with this.
Will tell you for information: At present, there is a trade war going on between America and China. In such a situation, if India also takes any such action, then a trade war can start between America and India too. At present the relations between China and India are bad. In such a situation, America becomes even more important for India. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see whether action will be taken against American companies.
India needs investment
A statement was signed at the recently concluded G20 Summit in India. It talked about freedom of expression and freedom of expression of people on the Internet. It raised the issue of restrictions on the freedom of expression of the people due to political and economic reasons. Although India had asked to simplify its language a bit, the US was against it.
In such a situation, whether India will now take action on Twitter or not, it is going to be interesting to see. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently invited IT companies from all over the world to invest in India during an event. Conversely, if the Indian government bans Twitter, a wrong message will be sent to companies around the world. This will also affect the foreign investment coming into India.
Due to the ongoing dispute between Twitter and the Government of India, the share of Twitter has also seen a decline today. Twitter shares fell as much as 25% from their 52-week high on US stock markets.
Despite the ban, Twitter did not obey the instructions
Let us tell you for information that Nigeria recently banned Twitter. Despite this, Twitter did not give any statement on the issue of Nigeria. Recently Russia also partially banned Twitter. Despite this, Twitter refused to accept Russia’s terms. In such a situation, experts are saying that Twitter will follow the IT rules of India? There is little chance of that.
For information, let us tell you that Twitter has one crore 75 lakh users in India. There is no doubt that India is an important market for Twitter. Despite this, Twitter is refusing to accept the new IT rules.
Twitter says that we will continue to protect people’s freedom of expression.
