Twitter imposes global restriction on tweet about home minister

Giving in to a ‘legal demand’ from the Union government, Twitter has reportedly imposed a worldwide restriction on a tweet about Home Minister Amit Shah. Journalist and RTI activist Saurav Das on Friday tweeted that his “tweets have been withheld not just in India, but worldwide.”

I don’t remember the context of tweeting this, can anyone figure out?, Das said and shared a screenshot of the thread which has been blocked for viewers.

The reason for the takedown and the agency which sought its removal haven’t been ascertained yet.

Also read | No sweeping power or a draconian move: MoS IT on govt’s fact-checking unit

The Hindu first reported about the blockage on Friday.

Twitter’s move has surprised many users and the Elon Musk-owned social media platform usually restricts access to content only in the territory where it is demanded to be blocked.

The development comes days after the Centre notified IT amendment rules.

After the final amendments to the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021 were notified, MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said the IT Ministry will form a “fact checking unit” to stop the flow of misinformation about the government.

Also read | MeitY notifies IT amendment rules: Govt-appointed fact-checker to identify fake news

The move has drawn sharp criticism from internet, free speech activists as well as the opposition parties who said it will lead to censorship.

“Government has decided to notify an entity through Meity and that organisation then would be the fact checker for all aspects of content online and only those content that are related to the government,” Chandrasekhar had said.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Internet is safe and trusted for all our digital nagriks,” he stressed, adding that no social media platform can “ever violate the fundamental rights of the citizens of India”.

Also read | Technology firms to support non-profit forming SRO to vet fact-checkers

Big tech giants Google, Meta, Twitter, Snap and Indian social media platforms Koo and ShareChat, and telecom major Jio are supporting the Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), a non-profit to form a self-regulatory organisation that will vet a network of fact-checkers to check non-government related news, ET reported on Saturday.

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