Twitter blocks several accounts for supporting Indian Farmers

Twitter on Monday briefly blocked dozens of accounts and tweets in India at the Hindu nationalist government’s request, including those of a leading news magazine and farmers staging mass demonstrations in the capital. An Information Technology department source told the AFP news agency the court had directed the social media giant to act against about 250 Twitter accounts and tweets that posed a “grave threat to public order.”

The accounts were charged on Monday afternoon but were open again hours later.

Tens of thousands of tenants have been protesting since November 26 in homes on the outskirts of New Delhi against the deregulation of India’s agriculture sector.

One rally last week turned into a deadly rampage. Since then, police have arrested dozens of farmers and a journalist who writes for Caravan magazine.

The magazine, some help activists and unions, some opposition leaders, an actor, and a professor were among those whose Twitter reports were blocked in India.

A Twitter spokesperson asserted, “it may be required to reserve access to certain content in a particular nation from time to time” if “a correctly scoped” demand is made.

A spokesperson for the farmers declared their accounts “had not done anything indecent” apart from supporting the long-running demonstrations.

The executive editor of Caravan, Vinod K Jose, stated that their account's blocking was the “latest in a long list of targeted attacks” by authorities against the paper over their reporting.

Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders closed the suspensions, which is called a “surprising case of obvious censorship.”

“By requesting these blockings, the Home Affairs Ministry is performing like an Orwellian Ministry of Truth who aspires to impose its own story about the immigrants’ demonstrations,” the group declared.

Since the violence last Tuesday, at least five criminal cases have been displayed against writers and an opposition politician, accusing them of sedition and intrigue over their writing and tweets on the rally.

India regularly uses internet abandonment, most recently at the farmers’ protest sites, to limit message sharing during disturbances.