Alt News co-founder, Mohammed Zubair receives Twitter notice regarding Government seeking action against him

Twitter India has alerted Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair that the social media company has been submitted a request from Indian law enforcement agencies alleging that a tweet from Zubair's account breached Indian laws.

In an email to Zubair, Twitter stated that they had taken no action since they firmly believe in safeguarding and respecting the voices of their users.

The fact-checking website could seek legal assistance and contest the government's order in court, contact civil society organisations for a settlement, or voluntarily erase the information, according to Twitter.

The letter by Twitter read as, "We have not taken any action on the reported content at this time as a result of this request. As Twitter strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users; it is our policy to notify our users if we receive a legal request from an authorized entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency to remove content from their account."

Zubair stated his Twitter reach has been limited as a result of multiple such alerts while posting a screenshot of the notice. Since April 2020, Zubair has received at least 11 such letters from Twitter Legal, many of which were also based on demands from Indian law authorities.

In the latest notification, Zubair had posted a warning against doctored film on March 10th, which was being spread before of the Assam Assembly elections to falsely suggest that AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) president Badruddin Ajmal had made provocative statements about establishing an Islamic state.

In his tweet, Zubair provided proof that the viral video was cut from a larger film in which Badruddin Ajmal made no such claims.

He took to twitter sharing the tweet posted by him on March 10th alongside the Twitter letter, he asked, “Is government allergic to facts?”

On February 25th a new set of guidelines was released to control social networking firms, streaming services, and digital news material. For the first time, the new restrictions effectively place these sites under government control.