By SAT News Desk
MELBOURNE, 26 June 2021: Tensions between India and social media platform Twitter seem to be unending. Twitter blocked the account of IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for one hour after it claimed on Friday (25 June 2021) afternoon after receiving a complaint about a violation of U.S. copyright law, reports The Hindu.
The Minister accused Twitter of not giving him prior notice as per the IT Act Rules and called it a “highhanded and arbitrary” action. The Minister’s account was blocked for an hour and later restored. Twitter’s action had been provoked by his sharing a news clip of his interview to a television channel. This incident comes amidst the coming into force of new IT laws and Twitter not being happy with them.
The Hindu report (25 June 2021) quotes the Minister as saying:
“Further, it is now apparent as to why Twitter is refusing to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines because if Twitter does comply, it would be unable to arbitrarily deny access to an individual’s account which does not suit their agenda,” said Prasad.
“Twitter’s actions indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform,” he said.
The Minister concluded his Twitter thread by strongly reiterating that “no matter what any platform does they will have to abide by the new IT Rules fully and there shall be no compromise on that.”
