JOIN USTwitter blocks Punjabi singer JazzyB, three other accounts
Microblogging platform Twitter has "withheld" the accounts of Punjabi singer JazzyB and two others on a government request.
JazzyB and hip-hop artist L-Fresh the Lion, who have been frequently tweeting in support of farmers' protests were removed from Twitter.
According to information on the Lumen database, Twitter received a legal request from the Indian government on June 6 for actioning four accounts, including that of JazzyB.
Users checking Jazzy B's account are shown a message saying "account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand".
Reacting to this, a Twitter spokesperson said when it receives a valid legal request, the company reviews it under both the Twitter Rules and local law.
"If the content violates Twitter Rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only," the spokesperson added.
However, Twitter also said that in all cases, it notifies the account holder directly so that they're aware that the company has received a legal order pertaining to the account.
"Twitter is committed to the principles of openness, transparency, details of the requests to withhold content have been published on Lumen," the spokesperson said.
Earlier, Twitter suspended over 500 accounts related to the farmers' protest after the government said the accounts were tweeting inflammatory content. Twitter too removed some posts posted by journalists, politicians criticising the government handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Twitter and the Central government are at loggerheads over the implementation of new social media rules which came into force on May 26.
While the government says Twitter yet to comply with the rules, the US-based company sought more time citing the Covid-19 pandemic.