Have to follow Indian law: Govt’s warning to Twitter
NEW DELHI: Social media companies will need to follow India’s laws or face strict action, minister for electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Parliament on Thursday, while adding that the government is working on new rules to make companies such as Twitter and Facebook more responsive to directions and accountable to Indian laws.
Prasad said the government was in the favour of freedom of speech and expression but warned that the abuse of social media platforms for harms such as fake news and election manipulation will not be tolerated.
“We respect social media. We also respect criticism. But we will not tolerate the misuse of social media for fake news. Today, from here in Parliament, I politely remind the companies, whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp or anyone, they are free to work in India, do business, but they need to respect the Indian Constitution, they need to respect the Indian law,” he said.
The minister also drew a comparison between the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and the January 26 violence at Red Fort, saying that “certain microblogging platforms” took action in the first case but dragged their feet during the incident in India. “This double standard will not work here,” he warned.
The minister’s comments follow days of tensions between the government and Twitter over taking down more than 1,300 accounts or posts in connection with the farmers’ protest and the violence that occurred on January 26.
The social media company only partially complied with the order, saying that the directions were not consistent with Indian law.
“When a company becomes a platform, you make the rules to assess what is wrong and what is right. But that doesn’t mean that the laws of India will not apply to them,” Prasad said, after telling Parliament that his ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry were working on new guidelines.
The government in reply to an unstarred question in Rajya Sabha also asserted that the rules under the IT Act, 2000, are in the process of being amended. “These Rules are being amended to make social media platforms more responsive and accountable to Indian laws. These Rules will also make digital media platforms to adhere to Code of Ethics.”
According to officials familiar with the matter, the guidelines are likely to be finalised soon to ensure that social media platforms “take responsibility” and be held accountable for the content shared on them. As intermediaries, the companies are not liable to face action for posts made by users.
“The current guidelines state that if the government asks the intermediary to take down posts, then they have to oblige,” said an official familiar with the matter, asking not to be named.
“The new guidelines are likely to strengthen the procedures so companies can’t say they are an intermediary and escape responsibility,” the official added. “They can’t use the excuse that their permissions have to come from a centre in some other part of the world. Such delays aren’t acceptable.” The official added that ministry continuously works to update the rules and keep them in consonance with the times.
Legal experts said the row between Twitter and the government is more a question of rule of law than a free speech issue. “We have a Constitutional right to free speech but there are also restrictions that can be laid down under Article 19(2). Section 69(A) of the IT Act gives the government the right to block such content and rules have been formed. Whether that is for right or wrong is a different matter but the government has the legal power to do it,” said NS Nappinai, advocate, Supreme Court, and founder of Cyber Saathi.
“There is no option for a company, either under the law or under the rules, to not comply with the order. In this case, Twitter had to either comply or contest the directions in a court of law,” she said, adding that the company’s actions opens it up to criminal prosecution.
The intermediary guidelines, initially floated in 2018, is expected to introduce a slew of changes, including allowing government to trace unlawful content, proactively identifying and removing or disabling public access to unlawful information or content, and making it mandatory for any intermediary with more than five million users in India to be an entity to mandatorily be a company incorporated in India.
Social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook function as media companies, essentially making money off ads, but refusing to take accountability for content. But legal experts have said that the nature of the laws give the government broad powers and there is little transparency around online content take downs, which leaves room for various interpretation.
Apar Gupta, Internet Freedom Foundation trustee, said that the government held public consultations on the draft guidelines. “The changes, if any have been made, are not known,” Gupta said. “This also comes on the heels of a case pending before the Supreme Court. The draft, if implemented in its current form, will result in an attack on freedom of expression. Automated take downs, say for a filter of illegality, will omit the context of the post and result in a larger take down of content. This will harm free expression and conversation on social media.”
With assembly elections a year away in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the farm agitation could well give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reason for concern when it comes to western UP, an area where it increased its seat tally from 38 of 110 seats in 2012 to 88 in 2017. It is from this region, decades ago, that the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, Mahendra Singh Tikait, organised farmers to fight collectively for their rights, a legacy being carried on by his son Rakesh Tikait today.
The BJP, with its Ram Mandir movement, was able to effectively fracture the famous “Majgar” alliance of Muslims, Ahirs, Jats, Gujjars and Rajputs, assiduously put together by the state’s tallest Jat from the region, the late prime minister, Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Can the BJP, which got a large segment of the Jat vote in western
UP in a series of elections, be sanguine about their support going forward? Will the angry farmers erode the BJP’s hold in western UP? Today, farm protests have brought together the region’s Jats, Gujjars, Ahirs, Muslims, Tyagis and Brahmins on the same platform. Will they remain disaffected, and for how long?
While the BJP cannot take things for granted, it is far too early to predict the outcome of the polls. There are many factors which will come into play. Poll issues, candidates, the strengths and weakness of the Opposition will all count. The BJP has a year to woo back those who have been alienated.
There are several reasons why things could change.
One, west UP farmers, while demanding a repeal of the three farm laws, have not directly attacked either Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi or chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath. The latter has not taken any coercive action against the farmers so far. In fact, he is using various persuasive means to convince Rakesh Tikait to budge from his allor-nothing position.
Two, the communal divide, which seems papered over for now, could still play a role in the elections. The agitation may have revived the fortunes of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary, but their hopes of a Muslim-Jat reconciliation are unlikely to materialise.
Three, the PM may work out a solution to the farm protest soon as he is under pressure from influential Jat leaders in the region. In addition, leaders such as defence minister and former UP chief minister Rajnath Singh can be deployed for damage control because of his relationship with many Jat leaders, including Tikait.
Four, Ajit Singh could well play a mediatory role. The RLD has been a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Before the elections, Singh might weigh all his options. Despite the RLD’s alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), both father and son lost their seats in their own pocketboroughs of Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat in 2019. As of now, farmers, irrespective of caste or community, are angry with the government. But will this last after a year? Could RLD’s calculations change?
And finally, the BJP has other issues which could win it support. One is the promise of development and the other is to cash in on an issue which has evoked much ferment in western UP, and indeed across the state — that of “love jihad”. Irrespective of one’s personal view about it, stories of Muslim men enticing Hindu women into marriage and converting them to Islam have found much traction among Hindus of all castes. There is also much support for the CM’s signature anti-cow slaughter measures.
The fortunes of the BJP in 2022, therefore, rest on several factors. Will Rakesh Tikait’s impassioned performance in the farm protest wash away communal animosity and reunite the Jats and Muslims against the party? Can the farm movement revive the RLD? Will agrarian distress change the politics of the region decisively? Will 2022 be a vote on emotional lines or will economics play a major role?
As of now, the BJP still has time to work out many of these issues.