India’s government has threatened to jail employees of Facebook, its WhatsApp unit and Twitter, as it seeks to quash political protests and gain far-reaching powers over discourse on foreign-owned tech platforms, people familiar with the warnings say.
The warnings are in direct response to the tech companies’ reluctance to comply with data and takedown requests from the government related to protests by Indian farmers that have made international headlines, the people say. At least some of the written warnings cite specific, India-based employees at risk of arrest if the companies don’t comply, according to some of the people.
The threats mark an escalation of India’s efforts to pressure U.S. tech companies at a moment when those companies are looking to th e world’s second-most-populous nation for growth in the coming years.Some of the government’s requests for data involve WhatsApp, which is hugely popular in India and promises users encrypted communication, unable to be read by outside parties.
A WhatsApp spokesman said the company complies with data requests that are “consistent with internationally recognized standards including human rights, due process and the rule of law.” A Facebook spokesman said the company “responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service.”
Twitter “will continue to advocate for the fundamental principles of the Open Internet,” a company spokesman said, adding: “Threats to these principles are on the rise around the world, which is of deep concern.”
India has been making new rules that grant its leaders power over online discourse to a degree unmatched elsewhere among open societies, legal analysts say. The rules require the tech companies to appoint executives who are resident in India to deal with government requests, including a contact person for “24x7 coordination with law-enforcement agencies and officers to ensure compliance” with orders, the rules say. The rules would also compel companies to remove content that undermines national security, public order and “decency or morality.”
Companies must also help identify the originator of messages. A government representative said the rules would require platforms to track and store records of specific messages as they traveled among users. Legal observers say the rules don’t provide a clear legal way to challenge requests to take down content or provide user data. Under India’s legal system, such requests don’t require prior approval by a court.
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