India’s Government in Standoff with Twitter Over Online Speech

The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a battle with U.S. tech firms over a new set of online speech rules that it has enacted for the nation of nearly 1.4 billion.   #WATCH | Team of Delhi Police Special cell carrying out searches in the offices of Twitter India (in Delhi & Gurugram)Visuals from Lado Sarai. pic.twitter.com/eXipqnEBgt Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve. The official handle of @thecaravanindia is withheld in India: pic.twitter.com/2t4FV5IgM0

The rules require companies to restrict a range of topics on their services, comply with government takedown orders and identify the original source of information shared. If the companies fail to comply, tech firm employees can be held criminally liable.   The escalation of tensions between Modi’s government and tech firms, activists say, could result in the curtailment of Indians’ online speech.   “Absent a change in direction, the future of free speech in the world’s largest democracy is increasingly imperiled,” said Samir Jain, director of policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a digital rights advocacy group.