Twitter has blocked the account of Canadian-Punjabi singer Jazzy B after a legal request from the government. Three other accounts have also been restricted, according to reports.
According to tech portal TechCrunch, all four accounts have posted material critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Jazzy B had tweeted against the farm laws amid the farmer protests.
The accounts were 'geo-restricted', which means they can be accessed from IP addresses outside the country. The lumen database – an online archive that analyses legal complaints and requests for removal of content revealed that the legal request of suspending the accounts had directly come from the Indian government.
Meanwhile, Twitter is learnt to have approached the government seeking more time to comply with the new IT rules. The response from Twitter comes after the government, last week, issued a strongly-worded final notice to the company regarding its non-compliance with the new rules.
The new IT rules for social media companies that came into effect last month mandate large platforms like Facebook and Twitter to undertake greater due diligence and make these digital platforms more accountable and responsible for the content hosted by them.
The rules also require significant social media intermediaries -- providing services primarily in the nature of messaging -- to enable identification of the "first originator" of the information that undermines the sovereignty of India, the security of the state, or public order.
According to the central government, the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal.
-with PTI inputs
