Government asks Twitter to ‘withhold’ accounts for hateful tweets on farmers' protest

Twitter on February 1 “withheld” multiple accounts on its social media platform, including many linked with the ongoing farmers’ protest at Delhi borders against the new contentious central farm laws.

The crackdown, sources said, was done based on orders issued by the Centre asking Twitter to withhold as many as 250 URLs who were running a particular hashtag about farmers' protests.

Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) had directed Twitter to block these URLs which were using a particular hashtag and making fake and provocative tweets on January 30, news agency ANI quoted sources. “This was done on the request of MHA and law enforcement agencies to prevent any escalation of law and order in view of the ongoing farmers’ agitation,” it said.

Among the accounts withheld is farmers’ collective Kisan Ekta Morcha and farmers’ union BKU Ekta Urgahan both having followers in thousands. Also, several other individuals and organisational accounts, including one of a media outlet, were also withheld.

Among the individuals whose accounts have been withheld include that of actor Sushant Singh, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati to name a few.  Officials said that   Shashi Shekhar Vempati’s account was blocked by a mistake and will be restored soon.