"In Compliance With The Orders, We Will Withhold": X On Action Against Accounts Linked To Farmers' Protests (Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash)

India is witnessing the massive “Delhi Chalo” march, spearheaded by farmer leaders. Amid the protest, multiple accounts on social media site X, formerly Twitter, have been withheld. Reports suggest that the X accounts that were withheld were allegedly associated with the ongoing farmers’ protest. Meanwhile, the social media platform confirmed compliance with executive orders issued by the central government demanding the suspension of certain posts and accounts.

> On February 22, Elon Musk-led X released a statement on its “Global Government Affairs” handle. The social media platform said that the Indian government has issued executive orders requiring the platform to act on specific accounts and posts. “In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone,” said X.

> At the same time, X also expressed its disagreement with Centre”s directives. “We disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts,” added the social media giant.

> X has also filed a writ appeal challenging the central government”s blocking orders. Notably, the writ appeal is currently pending. The micro-blogging platform has also provided the impacted X users with notice of the actions.

> “Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency,” Global Government Affairs tweeted. X also noted that the lack of disclosure can result in a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making.

> On February 20, the Hindustan Times reported that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) had finalised its emergency blocking orders against 177 social media accounts.

> As per the report, emergency orders were issued at the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Notably, the orders were issued on February 14 and February 19.

> The orders on February 19 were reportedly issued against 35 Facebook accounts, 14 Instagram accounts, 42 Twitter accounts, 1 Snapchat account, and 1 Reddit account. Several Facebook and X links will also come under this order. It is worth mentioning that, as per the report, this is the first blocking order issued to Snap.

> On February 14, The Wire reported that the social media accounts of farmers were withheld a day before they were to start their protest. In addition to the ban on social media accounts, there were also internet bans in various locations until February 21.

> X accounts of farmer leaders including Sarvan Singh Pandher, Tejveer Singh Ambala, Ramandeep Singh Mann, Harpal Sangha, and Ashok Danoda have been withheld.

> Notably, X has also reportedly taken down a page run by independent journalist Mandeep Punia.