Twitter is placing a defiant notice in its battle with India over limiting accounts within the nation. On Monday, the corporate launched its first respectable reaction since India’s govt demanded it reblock greater than 250 accounts it had restored in defiance of an IT ministry order. Among the blocked accounts have been Caravan, a information mag, and those that had criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“We strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact, and that the Tweets must continue to flow,” the corporate mentioned in a commentary shared with BuzzFeed News.

Twitter’s commentary comes in the course of a face-off with India’s increasingly more authoritarian govt as thousands and thousands of farmers protest agricultural reforms, rocking the country.

On Monday, studies within the Indian press mentioned that the federal government had requested the corporate to dam just about 1,200 further accounts that it mentioned have been tweeting concerning the protests, and have been being run from Pakistan. A file within the Times of India additionally quoted an nameless govt respectable announcing that India used to be disenchanted with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for liking tweets supporting the protests. A Twitter spokesperson declined to remark.

On Jan. 31, India’s IT ministry had ordered Twitter to forestall greater than 250 accounts belonging to activists, political commentators, and the Caravan from being considered within the nation. Twitter to start with complied however modified path six hours later. In reaction, India’s govt ordered the web page to dam the accounts as soon as once more and threatened Twitter officers in India with prison penalties for violating the order, together with a high quality and as much as seven years in jail.

But per week later, the accounts are nonetheless up, hanging the corporate’s workforce in India liable to govt retaliation.

“Safety of our employees is a top priority for us at Twitter,” the corporate commentary mentioned. “We continue to be engaged with the Government of India from a position of respect and have reached out to the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for a formal dialogue.”

Twitter’s movements put it on the heart of a unfastened speech debate in a rustic this is seeing an ongoing crackdown on dissent amid protests by means of thousands and thousands of farmers hostile to agricultural reforms that they are saying will harm their earning. For Twitter, blockading the accounts as soon as once more would imply enabling this crackdown, however no longer limiting them dangers prison penalties.

“We review every report we receive from the government as expeditiously as possible, and take appropriate action regarding such reports while making sure we hold firm to our fundamental values and commitment to protecting the public conversation,” Twitter mentioned. “An update is shared through our established channels of communication with the Government.”

Despite the well mannered language, some other people, together with former Twitter staff noticed a double that means within the commentary. During the Arab Spring in 2011, the corporate’s cofounder Biz Stone and previous common suggest Alexander Macgillivray wrote a put up clarifying the corporate’s place on unfastened speech. It used to be titled: “The Tweets Must Flow.”

 

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