X protests against Indian government censorship orders

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has publicly protested against “executive orders” issued by the Indian government that forced it to take down posts critical of Narendra Modi’s administration.

The platform’s government affairs division on Thursday acknowledged blocking accounts and posts in a statement on X that followed complaints of censorship by journalists and activists covering or involved in a march on New Delhi by Indian farmers. 

“The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment,” the platform said. 

“In compliance with the orders we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone,” it added. “However, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.” 

X, previously known as Twitter, has bowed to Indian government censorship orders in the past. But Prateek Waghre of the Internet Freedom Foundation said Thursday’s open protest against the orders was an important symbolic move by the platform, which was bought by Elon Musk in 2022.

“This is the first time they have publicly spoken out against content takedown orders since the acquisition,” Waghre said, adding the response contrasted with “other platforms that rarely take a public position and, probably, quietly comply”.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party government last week dispatched security forces to the border between Punjab and Haryana states, about 200km from New Delhi, to try to stop farmers from northern India marching on the capital. 

Police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to thwart the protesters, and Indian activists had posted content attacking the government’s actions and showing what appeared to be injuries among some of them.

Mohammed Zubair, a prominent online fact-checker and co-founder of the website AltNews said in a post on Monday that “a lot of X accounts critical of BJP Govt” or covering the farmers’ march had “either been suspended or withheld in India”. 

X and Elon Musk should “please restore them all”, Zubair said. 

Farmers last thronged Delhi in 2020 and 2021 to protest three farm bills that would have introduced greater price competition to the agricultural sector. At the time, India’s government ordered Twitter to block access to some accounts.

After unruly scenes and violent clashes, the government shelved the three pieces of legislation in what was a rare climbdown by Modi.

The prime minister and his party will be seeking a third five-year term in a lower house elections expected by May.

Abhishek Kumar, a New Delhi-based supporter of the farmers’ protests, said he was “very disappointed with Elon Musk and X” for complying with the government orders. “I thought he portrayed X as upholding freedom of expression,” Kumar said. “What he is doing in India is wrong and it’s unlawful.”  

X gave no details of how many accounts it had taken down, but said it had provided affected users with notice of its actions and that a legal action previously filed that challenged Indian government blocking orders “remained pending”.

It said it was unable to publish the government orders and that not making them public could “lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision making”. 

Musk and Modi met during the prime minister’s state visit to the US last year. Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla has held talks with Indian officials about building an EV factory in the world’s most populous country.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting by Cristina Criddle in London