Shortly after Twitter’s statement flagging concern over the “potential threat to freedom of expression” and intimidation tactics by the police, the government, in a searing statement, told the social media site to “stop beating around the bush and comply with the laws of the land”.
Twitter had said while it will “strive to comply with applicable law”, it planned to ask for changes to “elements that inhibit free, open conversation”.
The government said: “Twitter needs to stop beating around the bush and comply with the laws of the land. Law making and policy formulations is the sole prerogative of the sovereign and Twitter is just a social media platform and it has no locus in dictating what India’s legal policy framework should be.”
On Twitter’s comment expressing worry about its employees in India after the Delhi Police visited its offices, the government said it wished to “emphatically assure that representatives of social media companies including Twitter are and will always remain safe in India and there is no threat to their personal safety and security.”
