As many as 250 Twitter accounts were blocked by the social media giant on request by the Home Ministry and law enforcement agencies of India, for tweeting, or retweeting with the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, and for making "fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets".
As per reports, the request was made to prevent "escalation of law and order (situation) in view of the ongoing farmer agitation".
The blocked accounts include one belonging to the Caravan magazine, Kisan Ekta Morcha and few others. They are – @imMAK02s, @manavijyan, @derasachasauda, @Bkuektaugrahan, @tractor2twitr, @aartic02, @sushant_says, @salimdotcomrade, @sanjukta, @HansrajMeena, @EpicRoflDon, @shashidigital.
Notably, the account @shashidigital belongs to Shashi Shekhar – the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharati.
"In our effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country," Twitter said in a statement as quoted by ANI.
"Transparency is vital to protecting freedom of expression, so we have a notice policy for withheld content. Upon receipt of requests to withhold content, we will promptly notify affected account holders," it added.
The crackdown comes amid growing outrage on social media platforms over the clashes between Delhi Police and farmers on Republic Day. Cases have been filed against journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and several others for their posts on Twitter.
