HIGHLIGHTS

The conversation was described as hot and heated by the sources.

The government has been tightening rules in the IT industry.

Such government directives, according to digital rights experts, stifle free expression.

WHY IN NEWS

According to Reuters, Indian authorities have had heated meetings with Google, Twitter, and Facebook about their failure to proactively remove what they call bogus news from their platforms. This is the government's latest spat with Big Tech. Officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) slammed the companies, claiming that their inaction on fake news was forcing the Indian government to order content takedowns, which drew international criticism that the government was suppressing free speech, according to two sources. The call was hot and acrimonious, according to people acquainted with the virtual encounter on Monday, signalling a new low in ties between American internet companies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration.

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At the meeting, the officials did not offer any ultimatums to the corporations, according to the sources. The government has tightened restrictions in the digital sector, but it wants corporations to perform more content filtering. The meeting came after the I&B ministry used 'emergency powers' to order the shutdown of 55 YouTube channels, as well as several Twitter and Facebook accounts, in December and January. The government claimed that the stations were spreading 'fake news' or 'anti-India' content, and that the misinformation was coming from accounts in Pakistan. The I&B ministry did not react on observations on the meeting, which was also attended by ShareChat and Koo, two Indian content-sharing sites with millions of users.

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Twitter, ShareChat, and Facebook, now known as Meta, all declined to comment. Google, which is owned by Alphabet, said in a statement that it evaluates government requests and 'when appropriate, restricts or removes content in accordance with local laws.' It conforms with local regulations, according to Koo, and has strict content filtering policies in place. The I&B ministry did not react to a request for comment on the meeting, which was also attended by ShareChat and Koo, two Indian content-sharing sites with millions of users.

According to Twitter's transparency reports, the Indian government makes among the most requests to delete information from its platform. In October, the technology website Comparitech reported that India has issued 97,631 requests for material removal in 2020.