India's Digital Crackdown On Pakistani Propaganda: Sharif Government's Twitter Account Withheld In India

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a statement that the action was taken by imposing emergency powers under Information Technology Rules, 2021.

NEW DELHI: The Pakistan government`s official Twitter account has been withheld in India. When anyone tries to access the Twitter account of the Pakistan government, it says, "Account Withheld @GovtofPakistan`s account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand." 

This is reportedly the third time when Pakistan's Twitter account has been restricted to be viewed in India.Earlier in October 2022, the Twitter account of the Pakistan government was withheld in India. It was reportedly the second such incident in recent months. This account was withheld earlier in July as well but had been reactivated and was visible. 

According to Twitter guidelines, the microblogging site takes such action in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order. Currently, the Twitter feed of the Pakistan government "@GovtofPakistan" is not visible to Indian users. 

In June last year, Twitter in India banned official accounts of Pakistan Embassies in the United Nations, Turkey, Iran and Egypt. In August, India blocked eight YouTube-based news channels, including one operating from Pakistan and one Facebook account for posting "fake, anti-India content" online.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a statement that the action was taken by imposing emergency powers under Information Technology Rules, 2021. The blocked Indian YouTube channels were observed to be using fake and sensational thumbnails, images of news anchors and logos of certain TV news channels to mislead the viewers to believe that the news was authentic.