Social media platforms Meta, X step up content takedowns in India amid rising tensions with Pakistan

The platform's Threads account, which has around 1.3 million followers, also has a notice that states "Sorry, this page isn't available. The link that you followed may be broken or the page may have been removed". Muslim's Substack newsletter and its accounts on X and YouTube are still accessible in the country at the time of writing this article. Online publication User Magazine earlier reported about the account restriction in Instagram.

In response to Moneycontrol’s queries, Meta referred to a company webpage that outlines its policy towards restricting content when governments believe certain material on Facebook or Instagram goes against local law.

To tackle the rise in misinformation, Meta stated that it continues to work with third-party fact-checking partners in India, as Community Notes have not yet been rolled out in the country.

“We have 12 partners across India covering 16 Indian languages and English, making it our largest network for a country,” a company spokesperson said.

In January, Meta announced plans of phasing out its third-party fact checking system in favour of a crowdsourced approach with Community Notes, a feature first introduced by Twitter (now X) prior to its acquisition by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The company began testing Community Notes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in the United States from March 18.

X has not responded to an email seeking comments on this development.

This suspension follows a wave of suspensions of social media accounts of various Pakistani artists like Fawad Khan, Atif Aslam, and Hania Aamir, cricketers like Shahid Afridi, Babar Azam, and politicians like Imran Khan, Bhutto Zardar in the country in recent weeks. India also banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels last month.

Moneycontrol earlier reported that India is ordering the removal of more than 1,000 pieces of misinformation and disinformation from social media platforms each day.

Sources had told Moneycontrol the takedown orders were being issued under Section 69A of the IT Act, which empowers the central government to block content on grounds such as the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defense of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, and public order.

The spike in malicious content has led to a high-level meeting between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), and key social media intermediaries, Moneycontrol has learnt.

"We understand the rampant threats of misinformation that may cause fear and disorder. We urge the Union Government to support Indian journalists and fact checkers and issue content takedowns as a last resort," civil society group Internet Freedom Foundation said in a statement.

"Any content-specific takedowns must proceed under clear legal grounds, publish the legal rationale so they can withstand constitutional scrutiny, establish an independent oversight mechanism for future national-security content actions, and consult creators, civil-society, industry and scholars before altering the speech landscape" the statement said.

On May 8, Elon Musk's X stated that it has started the process of withholding 8,000 accounts in India as part of its efforts to comply with the Indian government's executive orders.

"The orders include demands to block access in India to accounts belonging to international news organizations and prominent X users. In most cases, the Indian government has not specified which posts from an account have violated India's local laws. For a significant number of accounts, we did not receive any evidence or justification to block the accounts" the company said in a post through its Global Government Affairs account on X.

Failure to comply could lead to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees, X stated.

The social media platform however noted that it "disagrees" with the Indian government’s demands since the company believes blocking entire accounts is "not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech"

"This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information" the firm said. Interestingly, the Global Government Affairs account itself was briefly withheld in India on May 9.

X mentioned that it is exploring all possible legal avenues available to the company. However, the social media platform also noted that it is restricted by Indian law in its ability to challenge these executive orders, and encouraged impacted users to seek appropriate relief from the courts.

In March, X sued the Indian government, arguing that the Centre's use of Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and the Sahyog Portal creates an "unlawful and unregulated censorship mechanism that bypasses statutory safeguards". The next hearing in this matter is scheduled for July 1, 2025.