Twitter faces backlash from Indian govt, lawmakers over refusal to block over 250 accounts.
Twitter Inc’s refusal to comply with a government directive to block more than 250 accounts and posts has put the social media giant at the centre of a political fire-storm in one of its key markets.
Government officials, business people and ordinary netizens are split over free speech and the U.S. company’s compliance practices, in a controversy that comes soon after Twitter’s top lobbyist in India resigned.
The showdown, after the firm this week “declined to abide (by) and obey” the order to remove posts and accounts that the government said risked inciting violence, is the latest instance of worsening relationships between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration and U.S. social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.
For Twitter, the stakes are high in a country of 1.3 billion where it has millions of users and is used by PM Modi, his cabinet ministers and other…