The X Global Government Affairs team has revealed that the social company has received over 8,000 censorship orders from the Indian government, affecting access in that country to entire accounts.
We obtained a copy of the memo for you here.
Among them are executive orders to block accounts of international news organizations and prominent X users, the post said, adding that the company will comply by “withholding” those accounts only in India.
Other platforms have also received the same orders but have yet to comment on the issue.
According to the post, the decision was not an easy one to make but X views it as necessary in order for the platform to continue its presence in India.
Noncompliance with the orders could have resulted in “significant fines” and even imprisonment of local employees, X announced.
It is further explained that the Indian government’s orders do not state which individual posts were found in violation of the country’s law, opting rather to demand that entire accounts must be blocked.
“For a significant number of accounts, we did not receive any evidence or justification to block (them),” Global Affairs writes.
Even though the decision has been made to comply with the orders at this time, X made it clear the company “disagrees” and views the blocking of accounts rather than individual allegedly offending posts as not only “unnecessary” but also a form of censorship that affects both existing and future content, in that way violating users’ right to free speech.
Having complied in order to stay in the market, X is now “exploring all possible legal avenues available to the company.”
The Global Affairs post is urging affected users who are located in India, to turn to the courts in a bid to have the orders overturned – since they, unlike X, have this option. Those users are also reminded they can contact the government directly.
X lists a number of legal aid organizations that those with blocked accounts can consider contacting, and explains the decision to go public with some details about the censorship orders as “essential for transparency” – while “lack of disclosure discourages accountability and can contribute to arbitrary decision making.”
That said, the actual orders cannot be published “at this time” for legal reasons, X continued. The company said users whose accounts have been blocked received notifications “of the actions, in accordance with our policies.”
Though the blocked accounts and their owners have not been named by X, the media in India speculate that the censorship push is happening in the context of the current hostilities between India and Pakistan.
