On June 16, Twitter became the first US-based social media platform to lose legal protection in India, following a series of episodes that increased the disagreement between the government and the social media platform.

Earlier on June 3, Google had to apologize to the Indian state of Karnataka for search results that prominently listed the state’s primary tongue, Kannada, as the “ugliest language in India.”

As the search engine moved to fix the issue, the state’s minister for forest, Kannada, and culture, Arvind Limbavali, threatened legal action.

https://twitter.com/PCMohanMP/status/1400380793260679171

Later that very week, the minister demanded that Amazon’s Canada outpost apologize after it listed a bikini for sale that featured Karnataka’s flag. When Amazon did not respond, he vowed to take legal action against the e-commerce platform as well.

These events transpired at a terrible time for big IT giants. Throughout this year, the Indian government has gradually increased its pressure to make them comply with law of the land and new amendments that it brings to the way information is shared in India.

On Feb 1, in response to a huge farmer’s protests as well as a Republic Day anti ‘farmer’s bill’ rally that had turned violent, the Indian government ordered microblogging site Twitter to block 1,178 accounts for allegedly spreading misinformation on farmers’ protest.

Twitter initially resisted, only obscuring some accounts and tweets to be viewed only in India but not removing them—until its India-based employees were threatened with prison time.

Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director of Twitter in India, was questioned by a team of the Delhi Police Special Cell in Bengaluru on May 31.

Following multiple such incidents when Delhi Police visited Twitter India offices in Delhi and Gurgaon it complied and permanently banned more than 500 accounts and obscured others from Indians’ view.

Internet shutdowns in India have been Gradually increasing

Shortly after, the government took matters into its own hands and shut down internet access in areas where protesting farmers were gathering peacefully.

A close look at internet bans in India reveals that it is largely used by the government to curb protests under the garb of national security.

Analysis

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