The government of IndianPrime MinisterNarendra Modiis in a battle withU.S.tech firms over a new set ofonlinespeech rulesthatit has enactedfor the nationofnearly1.4billion.

The rulesrequire companies to restrict a range of topicson theirservices,comply withgovernment takedown orders andidentifythe original source of informationshared.If the companiesfail tocomply, tech firm employees can be held criminally liable.

The escalation of tensions between Modis government and tech firms, activists say, could result inthecurtailmentof Indians online speech.

Absent a change in direction, the future of free speech in the worlds largest democracy is increasingly imperiled, said Samir Jain, director of policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a digital rights advocacy group.

Users will have less freedom of expression and less access to news and entertainment that is unapproved by the government. The rules will thereby undermine Indian democracy,Jain toldVOA.

At the center of the battle is Twitter, which asked for a three-month extensiontocomply withthenew IT rules that went into effect May 25.

On May 24, New Delhi policeattemptedto deliver a noticeto Twitters office, which was closedat the time,andthenreleased a video ofofficers entering the building and searching the officeson localTV channels.

In a tweetdays later, Twitter said itwas concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve.

We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global terms of service, as well as with core elements of the new IT rules,thecompanysaid.

Earlier this month,the government sent a letter to Twitter sayingit was giving the companyone final notice adding that if Twitter fails to comply, there will be unintended consequences, according to NPR, which obtained the letter.

It is beyond belief that Twitter Inc.hasdoggedlyrefused to create mechanisms that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparentmanner and through fair processes by India based clearly identified resources, the letter said.

The Indian government is pushing back on criticism that its new rules restrict online speech.

Protecting free speech in India is not the prerogative of only a private, for-profit, foreign entity like Twitter, but it is the commitment of the worlds largest democracy and its robust institutions, Indias Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said in a statement.

Some who are critical of the governments new IT rules are also skeptical of the tech industrys response.

It isnot an existential crisis as everyone will have us believe, saidMishi Choudhary, a technology lawyer and founder of Indias Software Freedom Law Center.Choudhary saiduserswill beforcedto stayon the sidelines, rather than taking an active role in discussions about their basic rights.

Some of the companies are still playing the game of we are a sales officeor our servers are in California, frustrating anyone who comes to their legitimate defense as well,Choudharysaid.

India has a long tradition of free speech,and itstech savvy market is attractive for U.S. tech firmslooking to expand.Although the Indian constitution protects certainrights tofreedom ofspeech,it has restrictions.Expressions are bannedthat threatenthe sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order,decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

Even before the recent tensions between tech firms and the government, India was among the top nations in the worldseekingto restrict online speech.From Jan. 1, 2020,to June 1, 2020, India wasone ofthe top five countriesaskingTwitterto remove content.

For example, afterviolent protestson Jan. 26thinvolving farmersunhappy with new agricultural laws,the Modi government demandedTwitter block 500 accounts, includingthose ofjournalists,activistsand opposition leaders. Twitter didso, and then eventually reversedcourse only to receiveanoncompliancenotice,according to acompanystatement.

Several Indian journalistsfaced charges of sedition over their reporting and online posts following the protest by farmers.Among them is theexecutiveeditor of theCaravan magazine, Vinod K. Joseand although his Twitter handle iscurrently active, itwas withheld in India this year.

The government isalsoparticularly sensitive about criticism of its handling of the coronavirus, asking that social media firms remove mention of the B.1617 variant as the Indian variant. In May,the government ordered social media firms to remove any mention of the Indian variant. The variant first reported in India is now called Delta, according to the World Health Organization.

Earlier this month, Twittercomplied witha request from the government to block theTwitter account of Punjabi-born Jaswinder Singh Bains, aliasJazzyB, a rapper.While Twitter informed him that he had been blocked forreportedly violatingIndias Information Technology Act, he said he believes he was blocked for supporting the farmers in their protests, according to media reports.

JasonPielemeier,director of policy and strategy at theGlobal Network Initiative, an alliance of tech companies supporting freedom of expression online,wroteto the MeitY, calling attention to many issues with the new rules.

Each of these concerns on its own can negatively impact freedom of expression and privacy in India, he wrote. Together, they create significant risk of undermining digital rights and trust in Indias regulatory approach to the digital ecosystem.

Twitterisntthe only tech firm affected by new laws.WhatsApp,the encrypted messaging appowned by Facebook,filed a lawsuitin Mayagainst the Indian governmentarguing that the new rules allow for mass surveillance.According to the lawsuit,the new rules areillegal andseverely undermine the right to privacyof its users.

At issue forWhatsAppis that under the new rules, encryption would have to be removed, and according to The Guardian, messages would have to be in atraceabledatabase.

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Indian Government in Standoff with Twitter Over Online Speech - Voice of America