Twitter withholds Pak govt account in India following Centre’s legal demand

Twitter on Saturday withheld in India the Pakistan government’s account on the microblogging site in response to a legal demand made by the Centre. If you try to access the Twitter handle in India, you will see the following message: “@GovtofPakistan account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand.”

This is the second time the Pakistan government’s Twitter handle has been withheld in India. It was done in July as well but revived later, says an ANI report. Also, in June, Twitter banned the official accounts of Pakistan embassies in UN, Turkey, Iran, and Egypt.

Twitter guidelines say it takes such action in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order. In August itself, India blocked eight YouTube news channels, including one based out of Pakistan, and one Facebook account for posting “fake, anti-India content.” So far, the Centre has blocked over 100 YouTube channels, four Facebook pages, five Twitter accounts, and three Instagram accounts for spreading hate against India.

Also read: Twitter says 50-60% of tweets asked by govt to be blocked are “innocuous”

Blocking spree

It was revealed earlier this year that India was only second in seeking Twitter users’ information and was among the top five countries to issue content-blocking orders to the site. For example, Twitter withheld the official handle of the Popular Front of India after the central government banned the outfit for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

In the last six months of 2021, the micro-blogging site received 326 legal demands to block content posted by journalists and news companies on their verified accounts. Of those, 114 came from India. Nations such as Turkey, Russia, and Pakistan made up the top four in issuing such demands, the site has revealed.

(With agency inputs)