Govt of Pakistan's Official Twitter Handle Blocked in India

NEW DELHI: The official Twitter account of the Pakistan Government has been withheld in India for the second time in recent months.

The Twitter account was also withheld in India earlier in July, but it had been subsequently reactivated and was visible to the Twitterati.

Today, on October 1, the account again displayed the message of being withheld in India.

Twitter now displays a notice on the profile that says that the account has been withheld in India following a legal demand

"@GovtofPakistan account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand," is seen while accessing the Twitter handle.

According to the microblogging site guidelines, Twitter takes such action in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order.

The Twitter Help Centre says, "If you see the above message, it means Twitter was compelled to withhold the entire account specified (e.g., @username) in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order."

Further, the micro- blogging site informs that if it "receives a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time."

Consequently, the Twitter feed of the Pakistan government "@GovtofPakistan" is not visible to Indian users.

However, only the Twitter handle of the government of Pakistan has been blocked. Its accounts on other social media platforms like Facebook, Youtube and Instagram have not been withheld.

Earlier, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had blocked 16 YouTube news channels, including six channels based in Pakistan for "spreading disinformation related to India's national security, foreign relations, and public order."

The Indian government has been going all out to ban social media accounts of entities and individuals that are engaged in 'anti- India' propaganda and views.

In June this year, Twitter in India had banned official accounts of Pakistan Embassies in UN, Turkey, Iran and Egypt.

Later in August, India blocked 8 YouTube-based news channels, including one operating from Pakistan and one Facebook account for posting "fake, anti-India content" online.

The central government has, so far, blocked over 100 YouTube channels, 4 Facebook pages, 5 Twitter accounts and 3 Instagram accounts for spreading hate contact against India.

Several of the blocked Indian YouTube channels were found to be using fake and sensational thumbnails, images of news anchors and logos of certain TV news channels to mislead the viewers into thinking that the news was authentic.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed through a statement that the action was taken by invoking emergency powers under Information Technology Rules, 2021.

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