The Indian government has not gotten into the good books of its people in the past, and it seems as though the latest development is going to help it nudge towards that direction either. In fact, the government of the day faced a potential backlash of angry Twitter users after they ordered Internet service providers to block approximately 20 accounts which, according to officials, claim had spread scare-mongering material which had the potential to threaten national security. The Indian government threatened “appropriate and suitable action” against Twitter if it failed to remove the accounts as soon as possible.
According to several Indian newspapers, this might eventually lead to an entire ban on Twitter access in India, but this rather drastic step in theory has yet to be confirmed of happening. In fact, Twitter has not come up with a statement on their part either, never mind that there are 16 million Twitter users in India itself. One user tweeted, “Dear GOI (Government of India), Keep youre Hands Off My Internet. Else face protest”, after over 300 Web pages were blocked in the process. It is difficult to regulate what is happening online though, so it would be interesting to see just how India’s government works to contain the situation.