Social media giant X is facing serious hurdles in the South East Asian region with countries like Pakistan and India said to be the worst affected.
Government officials in both these nations are not only censoring accounts that they feel might lead to unrest in the nations but new reports did confirm how Pakistani authorities have actually blocked complete access to the app as accusations regarding the rigging of the recently conducted elections run high.
For starters, X mentioned how Indian officials rolled out new orders for the app to ban those user accounts that were promoting disobedience in the nation.
As per the statement generated by X, the government in the country rolled out executive orders that forced X to target particular accounts and content produced by them. They also outlined how they would now be subjected to penalization entailing serious fines and even the likes of imprisonment. When complying with such orders, all such accounts would be withheld and their respective posts seen in places like India as well.
But X was quick to argue how they did find such behavior a derailment in terms of freedom of speech and how more needed to be done on this front to prevent such actions that limit people’s voices from being heard.
The company also stated how it had no choice but to fulfill the demands of higher government officials but even while doing so, it’s now going to challenge the bans placed by the country through any legal means it sees correct.
This is not the first time that we’ve heard about such actions arising from India which has time and time again rolled out very strict censorship rules in terms of what users can and cannot post online through such platforms.
This includes the old Twitter and the new one, better known as X.
In the past year, we saw X get rid of a documentary from leading media outlet BBC who reportedly came down against the country’s current PM in a harsh manner. It was first banned in the country from being viewed and that was proof of how X was unable to highlight its own claims of promoting free speech.
On the other hand, Twitter has also been taken to court by the country for not complying with the government’s orders in terms of refusal to action demands for taking down certain accounts that spoke against the country’s leading political party. There were even speculations about how the staff working for Twitter in the country might be penalized with jail time as they refused to comply with the rules set forward.
But it’s not only the Indian nation but now Pakistan has had its fair share of discrepancies with Twitter and content censorship. The government has long tried to take control of leading apps online, working hard to bar any kind of content that it felt was inappropriate.
They claim that the nation is an Islamic one and therefore any content that does not align with its constitution must be removed immediately.
So now the challenge lies with X and how it plans on handling the situation that’s a very sensitive matter. Musk has been very clear about X’s intentions of free speech from day one but with greater pressure from regulators and officials in these nations, it’s a mega challenge.
The biggest question of them all is how such changes can really impact Musk’s business on X. Both countries have a great user base and the thought of limiting people’s posts or barring the app as a whole can have serious consequences.
Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen/HumanEdited
Read next: Apple Upgrades Its iMessage Security Layer To Post-Quantum Cryptography
Government officials in both these nations are not only censoring accounts that they feel might lead to unrest in the nations but new reports did confirm how Pakistani authorities have actually blocked complete access to the app as accusations regarding the rigging of the recently conducted elections run high.
For starters, X mentioned how Indian officials rolled out new orders for the app to ban those user accounts that were promoting disobedience in the nation.
As per the statement generated by X, the government in the country rolled out executive orders that forced X to target particular accounts and content produced by them. They also outlined how they would now be subjected to penalization entailing serious fines and even the likes of imprisonment. When complying with such orders, all such accounts would be withheld and their respective posts seen in places like India as well.
But X was quick to argue how they did find such behavior a derailment in terms of freedom of speech and how more needed to be done on this front to prevent such actions that limit people’s voices from being heard.
The company also stated how it had no choice but to fulfill the demands of higher government officials but even while doing so, it’s now going to challenge the bans placed by the country through any legal means it sees correct.
This is not the first time that we’ve heard about such actions arising from India which has time and time again rolled out very strict censorship rules in terms of what users can and cannot post online through such platforms.
This includes the old Twitter and the new one, better known as X.
In the past year, we saw X get rid of a documentary from leading media outlet BBC who reportedly came down against the country’s current PM in a harsh manner. It was first banned in the country from being viewed and that was proof of how X was unable to highlight its own claims of promoting free speech.
On the other hand, Twitter has also been taken to court by the country for not complying with the government’s orders in terms of refusal to action demands for taking down certain accounts that spoke against the country’s leading political party. There were even speculations about how the staff working for Twitter in the country might be penalized with jail time as they refused to comply with the rules set forward.
But it’s not only the Indian nation but now Pakistan has had its fair share of discrepancies with Twitter and content censorship. The government has long tried to take control of leading apps online, working hard to bar any kind of content that it felt was inappropriate.
They claim that the nation is an Islamic one and therefore any content that does not align with its constitution must be removed immediately.
So now the challenge lies with X and how it plans on handling the situation that’s a very sensitive matter. Musk has been very clear about X’s intentions of free speech from day one but with greater pressure from regulators and officials in these nations, it’s a mega challenge.
The biggest question of them all is how such changes can really impact Musk’s business on X. Both countries have a great user base and the thought of limiting people’s posts or barring the app as a whole can have serious consequences.
Read next: Apple Upgrades Its iMessage Security Layer To Post-Quantum Cryptography
