Internet Freedom FoundationIn takedown orders dated April 2nd & 3rd, ECI asked X/Twitter to take action against 4 “objectionable” posts containing “political speech shared from elected politicians, political parties, and candidates for office”. 1/11
Tweets by @/ncbn of the @/JaiTDP, @/YSRCParty, @/samrat4bjp of the @/BJP4Bihar, and @/AamAadmiParty were withheld by X/Twitter in response to the takedown request. 2/11
As per the ECI, these 4 tweets violated specific provisions of the Model Code of Conduct (“MCC”) & an advisory dated March 1st sent by the ECI to all national & state-recognised political parties, urging them to abide by the MCC & the existing legal framework. 3/11
Since the March 1st Advisory & the MCC are also not legally binding, it is unclear from where ECI derives the power to issue takedown requests to Twitter.
The ECI has made no explicit reference to any statutory provision that bestows the authority with takedown powers. 4/11
ECI also referred to Twitter’s commitments under the Voluntary Code of Ethics (“VCE”), under which platforms that are signatories are expected to take swift action on “valid legal requests” submitted by the ECI. 5/11
https://drive.google.com/file/u/4/d/1LsR9rgkMqVMFPWsS_GPqT44hfNoUgl8e/view
https://drive.google.com/file/u/4/d/1LsR9rgkMqVMFPWsS_GPqT44hfNoUgl8e/view
Notably, the VCE is non-binding, has no legal force, & was drafted without any transparency, public inputs, or civil society engagement. Further, no public information exists on monitoring of the various platform’s compliance with the VCE.
These concerns were recently iterated in a letter to the ECI sent jointly by 11 civil society organisations. 6/11
#FreeAndFair
https://internetfreedom.in/civil-society-writes-to-eci-on-2024-elections/
Press Release: Civil society organisations express urgent concerns over the integrity of the 2024 general elections to the Lok Sabha
11 civil society organisations wrote to the ECI, highlighting the role of technology in affecting electoral outcomes. The letter includes an urgent appeal to the ECI to uphold the integrity of the upcoming elections and hold political actors and digital platforms accountable to the voters.
Twitter's Global Government Affairs team (@/GlobalAffairs
) published ECI’s takedown orders, disclosed their compliance with the request, & expressed disagreement with ECI’s decision, stating concerns for freedom of expression for political speech. 7/11
https://twitter.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1780261622038052976
) published ECI’s takedown orders, disclosed their compliance with the request, & expressed disagreement with ECI’s decision, stating concerns for freedom of expression for political speech. 7/11
https://twitter.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1780261622038052976
Lack of transparency around ECI’s moderation decisions with respect to identifying “objectionable posts” that violate the MCC & choosing the posts that will get flagged to platforms is a cause for concern & can lead to a lack of accountability & arbitrary decision-making. 8/11