As the censorship debate rages on across the world, after scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan, it has now come to light that some tweets of filmmaker and author Vivek Agnihotri have also been withheld in India ‘in response to a legal demand’.
We had earlier reported how Twitter is fast becoming a platform where ideological battles are fought, at times, by stifling the voice of those they disagree with. Earlier, scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan’s tweets were withheld in India ‘in response to a legal demand’. While Netizens were trying to understand what the ‘legal demand’ was, in response to which his tweets were withheld, it now appears that some of the filmmaker and author Vivek Agnihotri’s tweets have met the same fate.
The following screenshot shows the message readers get while trying to access some tweets of Vivek Agnihotri.
It appears that as of now, 12 tweets by Vivek have been withheld on Twitter in “response to a legal demand”. Following is a screenshot of the thread where responses from 5th October 2018 can be seen, but the parent tweet of Agnihotri, to which people responded to, has been withheld.
According to the Twitter help page, a user would see such a message if the tweet was withheld vide a legal demand, like a court order. While it is still unclear why Vivek’s tweets were withheld, Anand Ranganathan has got some response from Twitter after he wrote to them demanding answers for withholding his tweets.
Anand Ranganathan had repeatedly requested Twitter to offer an explanation as to why his tweets were withheld in India. Today, Ranganathan got a response from Twitter. The response, which was later tweeted by Anand suggests that his tweets were withheld because he tweeted about the contempt notice received by Vivek Agnihotri and thereafter, offered his support to Vivek.
The order of the hon’ble High Court ordering a ban on my tweets.
For tweeting merely the news of the contempt notice to @vivekagnihotri, and stating that I stand with him, I have now become “Contemnor no. 13”. @SwarajyaMag is “Contemnor no. 14”. pic.twitter.com/40TlwOsb6P
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 30, 2018
Ranganathan’s tweets where he stood by Vivek against a contempt notice against Vivek, seem to have been banned following a High Court order. If one looks at the order tweeted by Anand, one sees that Vivek Agnihotri’s name is also included
Right above Anand Ranganathan’s name, Vivek Agnihotri’s name also appears as one of the persons whose tweets are to be withheld. Hence, from above it seems like Vivek’s tweets are withheld in India on basis of the same court order. Vivek was informed of his tweets being withheld on Thursday.
We’d update this article without prejudice to any party when there’s a new development in the case.
