'Playing with fire': Twitter's India snub sparks debate on compliance, free speech

* Twitter faces backlash from Indian govt, lawmakers* U.S. firm declines to remove content despite India govtorder* Indian lawmaker says Twitter acting like lawmakers* Twitter has said it complies with “properly scoped”requestsBy Sankalp Phartiyal and Aditya KalraNEW DELHI, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc’s refusalto comply with an Indian government directive to block more than250 accounts and posts has put the social media giant at thecentre of a political firestorm in one of its key markets.Government officials, business people and ordinary netizensare split over free speech and the U.S. company’s compliancepractices, in a controversy that comes soon after Twitter’s toplobbyist in India resigned.The showdown, after the firm this week “declined to abide(by) and obey” the order to remove posts and accounts that thegovernment said risked inciting violence, is the latest instanceof worsening relationships between Prime Minister NarendraModi’s administration and U.S. social media platforms likeFacebook and WhatsApp.For Twitter, the stakes are high in a country of 1.3 billionwhere it has millions of users and is ardently used by Modi, hiscabinet ministers and other leaders to communicate with thepublic.Farmers are conducting a growing protest against newagriculture laws, with tens of thousands camping out on theoutskirts of New Delhi and launching a nationwide…
Read More