Expect Twitter To Abide By Local Laws Following Musk's Takeover, Says Govt

On the day Elon Musk finally took over Twitter, the government has said it will not change its expectation that the social media platform will comply with the India's rules and regulations.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, on Friday said India’s new IT laws would be released soon, according to a Reuters report.

Over the past two years, India has requested Twitter to take action against certain content on the microblogging platform such as accounts that favour an independent Sikh state, posts that are said to have spread false information about farmer protests, and tweets that are critical of the government's response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

"Our rules and laws for intermediaries remain the same regardless of who owns the platforms," Reuters quoted Chandrasekhar as saying.

Chandrasekhar said India’s new revised IT guidelines would be released on Friday or Saturday following months of consultation when questioned about the government’s view on banning individuals like Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut from Twitter.

Twitter had last year banned Ranaut for violating its rules by indulging in hateful and abusive behaviour.

In July this year, Twitter sued the Indian government to challenge some of the block orders on tweets and accounts.

In its lawsuit, Twitter alleged the government had abused its power by ordering it to arbitrarily and disproportionately remove several tweets from its platform.
The company also alleged the government threatened to open criminal proceedings against its chief compliance officer in India if the company didn’t comply with orders.

The lawsuit came after the social media platform was asked to take down hundreds of accounts and tweets over several months by the government.