“We Disagree With These Actions…”: X Says After Complying With Election Commission Orders To Take Down Posts

Social media platform Elon Musk owned-X“s Global Government Affairs department has adhered to the directives of the Election Commission of India, taking down specific posts from various political entities and individuals. Among those affected are posts from the YSR Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP State President Samrat Choudhary.

In a press statement released by X”s Global Government Affairs, they expressed their compliance with the Election Commission”s orders while simultaneously asserting their disagreement with the actions taken.

The statement reads, “The Election Commission of India has issued takedown orders requiring X to act on posts containing political speech shared from elected politicians, political parties, and candidates for office. In compliance with the orders, we have withheld these posts for the remainder of the election period; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts and political speech in general.”

The tweets in question reportedly violated the General Conduct of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), a set of guidelines for political parties and candidates during the election process. Among the alleged violations are rules such as “Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided” and “No aspect of the private life, not connected with the public activities, of the leaders or workers of other parties is to be criticized. Low level personal attacks to insult the rivals shall not be made.”

In an effort to maintain transparency, X”s Global Government Affairs has notified the affected users and published the takedown orders. They have also called on the Election Commission to publish all of its takedown orders going forward, emphasizing the importance of transparency in such matters.