Government orders the closure of the ‘X’ accounts connected with the farmers’ agitation

• X complies with the Indian Government’s order to suspend accounts but says “We disagree…”
• X disagreed, emphasising its commitment to freedom of expression

New Delhi – The so-called farmers of Punjab and Haryana are agitating and planning and preparing to go to Delhi to show their protest. Given this, the Government has ordered X, the social media giant to close accounts that are connected with the planning and mobilisation of the farmers’ movement. “The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment,” X said. “In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.”

These orders are to be made public for the sake of transparency – X

The Directorate of Information Technology is examining the petition and will respond soon. ‘X’ said that they have filed a petition against the Government of India. “Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency. This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making,” said Elon Musk.

After Musk had acquired the company, he had called Indian regulations “strict”, and said he would rather comply with the Government’s blocking orders than risk sending X employees to jail. He was alluding to the IT Rules, 2021, under which a senior representative of social media companies – the chief compliance officer – can be potentially jailed for violating norms.