Twitter suspends nearly 500 accounts linked to farmers’ protest, says will continue to work with government

Twitter said that it took action on hundreds of accounts that violated the Twitter Rules, particularly inciting violence, abuse, wishes of harm, and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm. “Prevented certain terms that violated our Rules from appearing in the Trends section. Suspended more than 500 accounts that were engaging in clear examples of platform manipulation and spam.’’

NEW YORK: Micro-blogging platform Twitter on Wednesday defended its policies in India, days after the government issued a notice to it ordering it to remove over 1,400 accounts related to the ongoing farmers' protest against the three farm laws. 

Defending its policies, Twitter issued a statement in which it said that “transparency is the foundation for promoting healthy public conversation.’’ Providing an update about its policies, the micro-blogging platform said, “Following the reports of violence in recent weeks, we're sharing a granular update on our proactive efforts to enforce our rules and defend our principles in India.''

"We believe transparency is the foundation for promoting healthy public conversation on Twitter and to earn trust. It is critical that people understand our approach to content moderation and how we engage with governments around the world, and that we are transparent about the consequences and the results of this work. Our Transparency Report and Lumen continue to be the places to go to observe trends in the requests governments make of us, and to assess how we operate globally.”

Transparency is the foundation for promoting healthy public conversation.

Following the reports of violence in recent weeks, we're sharing a granular update on our proactive efforts to enforce our rules and defend our principles in India: https://t.co/ry557Nj94U

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 10, 2021

It went on to say in the statement: “ The values that underpin the Open Internet and free expression are increasingly under threat around the world. Following the reports of violence in New Delhi in recent weeks, we wanted to share a granular update on our proactive efforts to enforce our rules and defend our principles in India. Twitter exists to empower voices to be heard, and we continue to make improvements to our service so that everyone — no matter their views or perspective — feels safe participating in the public conversation.” 

The company further informed that its global team provided 24/7 coverage and took enforcement action judiciously and impartially on content, Trends, Tweets, and accounts that were in violation of the Twitter Rules beginning 26 January 2021.

It said that the company took action on hundreds of accounts that violated the Twitter Rules, particularly inciting violence, abuse, wishes of harm, and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm. “Prevented certain terms that violated our Rules from appearing in the Trends section. Suspended more than 500 accounts that were engaging in clear examples of platform manipulation and spam. Tackled misinformation based on the highest potential for real-world harm, and prioritized labelling of Tweets that were in violation of our synthetic and manipulated media policy.’’

“We took steps to reduce the visibility of the hashtags containing harmful content, which included prohibiting them from trending on Twitter and appearing as recommended search terms. We took a range of enforcement actions — including permanent suspension in certain cases — against more than 500 accounts escalated across all MeitY orders for clear violations of Twitter’s Rules,’’ the company said in a blog post.

The micro-blogging platform stated that “it will continue to maintain a dialogue with the Government of India and respectfully engage with them.’’ 

“We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve. We are exploring options under Indian law — both for Twitter and for the accounts that have been impacted. We remain committed to safeguarding the health of the conversation occurring on Twitter, and strongly believe that the Tweets should flow,’’ Twitter said in the blog post.

The clarification from Twitter came days after the government issued notice to the firm ordering it to remove over 1,400 accounts related to farmers' protests. Twitter India officials also later met the Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to discuss the issue.