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Amid Tussle with Twitter, India Warns Social Media Giants

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - India has warned social media giants to comply with local
   laws or face action amid an escalating dispute with Twitter over the
   government's demand that hundreds of accounts be blocked.
   Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told parliament
   Thursday that "if social media is misused to spread fake news and
   misinformation, then action will be taken."
   Naming Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and LinkedIn, he said that
   they were free to do business in India but would have to "follow the
   Indian constitution."
   The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on Twitter to
   take down hundreds of accounts and posts for allegedly using
   provocative hashtags and spreading misinformation about a massive
   farmers' protest that erupted in violence on January 26.
   India has reacted angrily to Twitter's failure to comply fully with its
   directive -- while the social media company has acted on some of these
   accounts, it has not taken down all of them.
   Following a virtual call with Twitter's executives, the Ministry of
   Electronics and Information Technology said that it had "expressed deep
   disappointment" over the manner in which the company had "unwillingly,
   grudgingly and with great delay" complied with only parts of its
   orders. "Lawfully passed orders are binding on any business entity and
   must be obeyed immediately," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

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