Twitter has ‘withheld’ the account of Kisan Ekta Morcha, The Caravan, CPI(M) Leader Md Salim, Sushant Singh, Sanjukta Basu, Hansraj Meena among others.
The news came to light somewhere around 3 PM, when Vinod K Jose informed through his account about the action on The Caravan. The explanation provided by Twitter is that the Twitter Handles “have been suspended in India in response to a legal demand”.
All these Twitter Accounts have been active in the Farmers Struggle Against the Three Farm Laws, and Kisan Ekta Morcha itself was made by the farmers to counter the ‘Godi Media’ narrative which they were thoroughly discontented with. Kisan Ekta Morcha also is present on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
So @thecaravanindia's twitter account is withheld in India. pic.twitter.com/VaGun4GBg4
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) February 1, 2021
The account of Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO of Prasar Bharati, India’s largest public broadcasting service, has also been also withheld.
A slew of FIRs was also recently filed against many journalists such as Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose, Sidharth Vardarajan in what has been seen as a crackdown for reporting about the incidents around the farmer’s protests’, such as the death of a farmer during Tractor Rally and violence by ‘locals’ at protest sites.
India Today from the information from sources says that “Twitter has been asked to block over 250 accounts or tweets that were tweeting using a specific hashtag. The MEITY (IT Ministry) has blocked around 250 Tweets or Twitter accounts which were using #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag and making fake, intimidatory and provocative Tweets on Saturday”. This has been done on the request of Ministry of Home Affairs.
(this is a developing story)
Also read: Brahminisation of Ambedkar and Glorification of Jauhar in MP School Textbooks
