New Delhi, 10 February, 2021: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has expressed concern over arm-twisting of Twitter by the Modi government and welcomed Twitter’s response to the IT Ministry’s order saying it would not restrict accounts belonging to journalists, activists, and politicians in India. Atthe same time, the Union asked the Centre to respect the right to freedom of speech and expression and desist from intimidating and harassing journalists for their posts on social media.
In a blog on Tuesday, Twitter said that although it had withheld some accounts that India’s government wanted it to block, it wouldn’t block others. “Because we do not believe that the actions we have been directed to take are consistent with Indian law, and, in keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of new media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians.” It added saying: “To do so, we believe, would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law.”
In a statement, IJU President and former Member, Press Council of India, Geetartha Pathak and IJU Secretary General and Vice President, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Sabina Inderjit said that an atmosphere of fear is consistently being created by the government against those who are critical of it, particularly the journalists, and this does not bore well for the world’s largest democracy.
Not only was Twitter asked to block accounts of the Caravan, an investigative news magazine, but the BJP government’s in various States were silencing dissent by misusing the sedition law to intimidate journalists and media houses, said the Union. This apart it expressed serious concern over journalists being targeted while covering the farmer’s protest.
The IJU said blocking of free speech and harassing the fourth estate amounts to undeclared censorship, which is unacceptable in any democratic society and smacks of an authoritarian regime. The authorities would do well to not to gag the fourth estate and must remember that it is the eyes and ears of the government and helps the society to be better informed, which is a tool that any government can ill-afford to suppress. It demanded that the government exercise restraint and let the journalists do their duty and the citizen have his right to unrestricted information.
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