X announced Wednesday it’s withholding certain accounts and posts after the Indian government ordered it to do so.
According to X’s Global Government Affairs department, the Indian government issued an executive order to the social media company to restrict certain accounts and posts inside India. The company said if it failed to comply, it would be subject to “potential penalties, including significant fines and imprisonment.”
The company said that due to legal restrictions, it can’t publish the exact wording of the order. However, the department said it notified the affected accounts and filed a writ of appeal in India challenging the executive order.
“In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and post in India alone,” X’s Global Government Affairs posted Wednesday. “However, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.”
Last year, X agreed to restrict certain posts and users during India’s massive farmer protests.
The latest Indian order is a challenge to X owner Elon Musk’s love of free speech. Since taking over Twitter in late 2022, he has made it a priority to limit bans that the previous regime blanketed on conservative users.
However, as privacy advocates have noted, the site under Mr. Musk has complied with foreign governments to suppress critical voices. According to one study, X under Musk has complied with over 80% of foreign government censorship requests. The requests often come from more authoritarian governments like Turkey’s.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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