Twitter Bans Over 1.1 Mn Accounts In India For Violating Guidelines

Elon Musk-led Twitter banned 11,32,228 accounts in India between April 26 and May 25, 2023 for violation of its guidelines, the microblogging platform said in its monthly compliance report.

The primary reason for these account suspensions was promotion of child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity. 

During the aforementioned reporting period, Twitter also took down 1,843 accounts in India for promoting terrorism. In total, the platform banned 11,34,071 accounts in the country. 

Under India’s IT Rules, 2021, social media platforms with more than 5 Mn users are required to publish monthly compliance reports. Twitter, along with others like Meta and Google, have been publishing their compliance reports every month since the law came into effect.

In its latest report, Twitter revealed that it received 518 complaints from Indian users during the specified time frame through its grievance redressal mechanisms. Additionally, the platform processed 90 grievances related to account suspensions. 

“We overturned 25 of these account suspensions after reviewing the specifics of the situation. The remaining reported accounts remain suspended,” stated the company.

The report also mentioned that Twitter received 29 requests regarding general questions about Twitter accounts during the reporting period.

A majority of complaints from Indian users were related to abuse or harassment, accounting for 264 cases. This was followed by reports of hateful conduct (84), sensitive adult content (67), and defamation (51). 

It must be noted that Twitter has often been at loggerheads with the Indian government on a host of issues. On Friday (June 30), the Karnataka High Court dismissed Twitter’s plea challenging takedown orders issued by the Centre and slapped a fine of INR 50 Lakh on the social media platform.

Following this, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Twitter was reluctant to remove misinformation from the platform under its former CEO Jack Dorsey.

However, Twitter’s relationship with the Indian government seems to be changing with Musk on the helm. Earlier this year, the Tesla CEO said in an interview that India’s social media laws are strict and he would prefer to comply with them rather than see Twitter’s employees going to jail.